Or perhaps, to be more precise, his expression was closer to stunned, shocked, utterly disbelieving.
Such a look almost never appeared on Zhou Yuchi’s face.
Jiang Zao was thrown completely off by his reaction. Tongue-tied, he stammered, “What’s with that expression…? I just kissed you, that’s all. It was only a kiss on your cheek, okay? I didn’t kiss your mouth or any other place… So why are you acting like this?”
Zhou Yuchi’s breath caught, his eyelids trembled faintly and the veins on his clenched fists stood out sharply. He didn’t say a word as he fought to suppress the wave surging through his chest.
But the moment he heard the words “kiss your mouth,” the last thread of restraint snapped.
Zhou Yuchi’s face darkened. In the next second, he directly hoisted Jiang Zao up and marched toward the bedroom with long, determined strides.
Jiang Zao: “!”
What was he doing now?!
Before Jiang Zao could even think of struggling, Zhou Yuchi had already tossed him onto the bed.
It was Zhou Yuchi’s room, a large double bed with deep-gray sheets. The quilt felt soft, plush, almost cloudlike beneath him, as though freshly changed. And it carried the faint, cool trace of the man’s ebony-wood scent.
Jiang Zao was completely stunned. He pushed himself up from the comforter, about to sit up,
Zhou Yuchi leaned over him.
The man’s body radiated heat, his shoulders broad, his legs long. The way he hovered above Jiang Zao enveloped him completely, as if sealing him beneath an unmovable wall of warmth and strength.
The intense mix of ebony and ambergris, along with the surrounding air saturated with Zhou Yuchi’s presence, squeezed out all the space around Jiang Zao, pushing him into a breathless, almost suffocating haze.
The room was dark. Only a faint bit of light spilled in from the living room and even that sliver was blocked out by Zhou Yuchi’s shadow.
Jiang Zao’s senses were all heightened to their limit. He felt a warm, almost scalding touch graze lightly along the curve of his ear.
The next second, his cheeks were cupped by those large hands, fingers squeezing gently, the thumb pressing against the corner of his lips, sending a faint electric tingle down his spine.
Jiang Zao’s mind went blank. His eyes finally adjusted a little to the darkness and he could vaguely make out the man looming over him, eyes darker than the room around them, dense and inky, like liquid night.
Then he heard Zhou Yuchi’s voice, cold and low, questioning him: “Why did you kiss me?”
Jiang Zao: “?”
He genuinely suspected he’d misheard.
“Are you sick or something! Wasn’t it you who told me to kiss you!” Jiang Zao raised his voice, only to aggravate his headache. He bit his lip and lowered his voice again, grumbling, “Seriously… What are you even talking about.”
“You kiss me just because I told you to?” Zhou Yuchi’s tone darkened. His fingers pinched Jiang Zao’s face a little harder, puffing his cheeks. “Since when are you that obedient?”
Jiang Zao: “…”
He was speechless. Zhou Yuchi definitely drank too, otherwise why would he be acting insane like this.
Zhou Yuchi’s eyes were shadowed, his jaw tight as he stared at Jiang Zao without speaking.
The young man lying beneath him had dazed, slightly unfocused eyes, a few strands of hair clung to his forehead, his soft lips were parted, his skin looked impossibly pale and thin with a flush beneath it. The delicate ridge of his collarbone rose sharply where he was so slim.
Just how many people had he kissed with this face?
If Jiang Zao was willing to kiss him even while annoyed with him, then did that mean, once he was drunk, he would kiss anyone he was even slightly close to…?
Ha.
Zhou Yuchi was drowning in jealousy.
Just imagining this kid, tipsy and smiling, pressing his hands to someone else’s face, leaning in to kiss them… it made him feel unbearably irritable.
The dim room was cut by a slant of light from the living room, stretching into a long, thin shadow.
Jiang Zao didn’t want to admit it but he really did feel like Zhou Yuchi might devour him whole.
Seriously… it was just a kiss on the cheek.
Did he really need to react like this?
Straight men were terrifying, couldn’t even handle a kiss on the cheek. They talked big but the moment you actually kissed them, they freaked out. Impossible creatures.
“Y… you, get off me… I can’t breathe…” Jiang Zao felt suffocated, plastered so close that not even a single sheet of paper could slide between them. Dizzy and uncomfortable, he tried pushing at him.
Zhou Yuchi clenched his back teeth, a cold glint in his eyes, unable to hide his displeasure. “So you like kissing people when you’re drunk?”
Jiang Zao: “??”
Where did that conclusion even come from?!
“I already said you were the one who told me to kiss you! I didn’t do it on purpose!” Jiang Zao protested.
Zhou Yuchi gave a sharp, humorless laugh. “So if I tell you to take off your clothes right now, you’ll let me do whatever I want?”
Jiang Zao: “…”
He absolutely assumed he misheard. Definitely an auditory hallucination. No way he heard that correctly.
Outside, the autumn night still held traces of dampness. The two bodies were entangled on the bed.
Looking down at Jiang Zao, his face pale and flushed, eyes glossy with alcohol, Zhou Yuchi forced himself to cool down a little. He lowered his head, his voice deep and almost coaxing. “Zao Zao, tell me, who else have you kissed?”
Jiang Zao’s face grew even redder, his slightly drunken eyes hazy with a soft sheen, lips trembling from how tight he was pressing them together.
What was with this rabid dog, did he want to defend the dignity of straight men who’d been kissed against their will?
Jiang Zao was furious. “You’re seriously sick. Let me go. I said get up, are you deaf?”
Zhou Yuchi chuckled. “No.”
Jiang Zao: “…”
He really couldn’t take it anymore. The alcohol fog returned, scrambling his thoughts.
He was exhausted. He never wanted to drink again.
But he also knew, if he didn’t clarify everything, Zhou Yuchi absolutely wouldn’t drop it.
The darkness warped reality, making everything feel distant, unreal.
The bed was soft, the windows closed yet it sounded like a faint wind drifted in from somewhere.
Jiang Zao had no strength left to spar with him. His voice came out soft, soaked in drunken warmth, words slurred, obedient almost like he was surrendering: “I’m already drunk… and you still want to pick a fight… are you just determined to make my life miserable…”
“I only kissed you, okay? Just you. Who else would be as weird and twisted as you… watching me embarrass myself makes you happy, is that it…”
But soon even talking became too much.
The last thread of his gentle, drowsy voice scattered into the thick night.
The air felt grainy, heavy with unspoken tension.
A muted golden glow seeped in from the living room, slowly filling the room. Dense, warm, each breath felt like emotion could overflow at any moment.
Right then, the man, always composed, steady, emotion hidden deep, looked at the boy who had finally fallen asleep and the tips of his ears were burning red.
Zhou Yuchi sat back in silence, lowering his head. One hand covered his face, the faint light illuminating the flushed edge of his ear, then half his cheek.
His expression remained unreadable but the pounding of his heart was unmistakable, so loud it startled even himself.
He swallowed, throat dry, eyes adjusting slowly, something dark and hungry shimmering in them.
Jiang Zao lay fast asleep on his bed without a trace of caution, breathing evenly, carrying a faint scent of alcohol when leaned close.
Asleep, he looked utterly harmless, none of the usual bristling wariness, nothing sharp. Just a small, soft creature, like a fluffy cat with all its fur smoothed down.
Zhou Yuchi forced himself to look away.
He stood up, removed Jiang Zao’s jacket, leaving him in a thin inner shirt and tucked him carefully under the blanket.
He considered charging Jiang Zao’s phone but couldn’t find it, so he called the number.
A buzzing sound came from the living room, it must have fallen there earlier.
Zhou Yuchi picked it up. The caller ID flashed boldly,
“Mad Dog.”
Zhou Yuchi: “…”
He let out a helpless laugh. Honestly, the name wasn’t wrong.
He brought the phone back to the room to charge it, then sat down at the desk. He unwrapped a lollipop, popped it into his mouth and opened his laptop.
Desire, in essence, was just a rehearsal.
The mind replayed, again and again, the same impulses, an internal practice session, deepening the craving and easing the tension of wanting something you couldn’t have.
Neurologically, sexual impulses were the same. Not shameful, not dirty, just a physiological phenomenon and these phenomena were what made the human brain complex, mysterious, fascinating.
Adrenaline and norepinephrine working together, that was what made the heart race over and over again.
So Zhou Yuchi indulged in his own excitement.
His method was rehearsal.
Repeating his desires silently in his head, then writing them down.
Every word looked perfectly normal on its own but strung together they grew increasingly suggestive, intense enough to make anyone blush.
His most straightforward thoughts were kept in his phone memo.
This kind of journaling gave him psychological relief. After all, he couldn’t actually force himself on someone else’s kid.
He clicked into Weibo and saw that the company called Honey Bunny had still been messaging his old account, the one they’d used for that “Lu Yan” persona.
Zhou Yuchi deleted the chat without hesitation.
He glanced at the sleeping boy one more time, then bit down on the lollipop with a sharp crack.
After closing his laptop, he showered and slipped into bed, right beside Jiang Zao.
Early the next morning.
When Jiang Zao woke up, he felt like his skull was splitting open.
What did he even do yesterday? Was he hit by a truck? Why was he this dizzy?
He rubbed his temples, considering calling in sick for his morning shift.
As he thought about it, he rolled over, curling forward to soak up warmth. His arm reached out from under the blanket and wrapped around something warm and soft. He closed his eyes again.
…Warm and soft?
Jiang Zao paused.
When did he bring a muscle suit or one of those life-sized plush body pillows into bed?
And why did it feel so real? It was warm, actually warm. Since when were the company’s products this high-quality?
Still baffled, his fingers absently explored a bit more, then he suddenly froze.
A horrible sense of wrongness crawled up his spine.
He snapped his eyes open.
And came face to face with a magnified, absolutely punchable face staring at him with faint amusement.
Jiang Zao: !?
“So eager to throw yourself at me first thing in the morning.”
Zhou Yuchi was lying next to him, sharing the same pillow, eyelids half lowered, voice lazy, the tail of his eye slightly upturned. “You hugged me all night and still want more?”
Jiang Zao was so shocked he choked on his own breath: “$&#&!”
What was happening?!
He scooted back. “W.. why am I in your bed…”
Zhou Yuchi, still groggy, was brief and to the point: “Remember it yourself.”
And Jiang Zao actually tried.
Hiss… Yesterday… right, he drank… and then what? The details were a blur…
…Did he really stumble into Zhou Yuchi’s room… and kiss him…?
He must be insane.
He tried to sit up but a hand he hadn’t noticed clamped down on his shoulder and pushed him back onto the bed.
Only then did he realize, what he had been lying on wasn’t a pillow at all. It was Zhou Yuchi’s arm.
And worst of all, the man was shirtless. Jiang Zao panicked, instantly checking if his own clothes were still on.
Thank god, they were.
Zhou Yuchi wrapped an arm around the squirming Jiang Zao’s shoulders, eyes still closed, voice hoarse with sleep. “Tired. Sleep more, Zao Zao.”
Jiang Zao: “…”
He flushed bright red, not knowing where to look. He covered his eyes with one hand, peeking through his fingers. “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”
Zhou Yuchi was clearly half-asleep. Without opening his eyes, he answered in a low, faintly raspy voice, “I sleep naked.”
Upon hearing that, Jiang Zao instinctively looked downward,
“Tch.” Zhou Yuchi clicked his tongue, dragged the wandering gaze back by pulling Jiang Zao into his chest, resting his chin on the top of his head. Eyes still closed, he added, “I’m wearing pants.”
Jiang Zao: “…”
Wearing pants should be the bare minimum! And who gave him permission to hold him like that?!
What kind of straight man hugged people this way?!
Jiang Zao’s mouth pursed, his brows scrunched tight. He shoved Zhou Yuchi. “Sleep my ass, I’m getting up!”
He scrambled out of Zhou Yuchi’s arms in a panic.
Zhou Yuchi, pushed aside, landed flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. A second later, Jiang Zao’s outraged shout exploded beside him “Zhou Yuchi! Where are my pants! You took my pants off again!!”
Zhou Yuchi dragged a hand down his face, expression calm, listening to Jiang Zao screech and sputter in embarrassment like a little hedgehog with all its spikes out.
It wasn’t like this was the first time they’d shared a bed.
When they were kids, back when Aunt Yang took care of them, they used to nap together all the time, curled up on the same mattress without a second thought.
But after they grew up, pride and independence kicked in, teenage boys didn’t share beds anymore, at least not two grown ones squeezed together.
Honestly, Jiang Zao last night had been far, far more obedient than Zhou Yuchi expected.
How did alcohol make him that docile? He slept like a stone, didn’t move an inch, let himself be held however Zhou Yuchi wanted, face, ears, whatever, all free to touch. Like a little bear in hibernation.
Zhou Yuchi’s expression didn’t change much but faint shadows sat beneath his lower lashes.
He hadn’t slept properly at all, too busy playing with the person next to him.
Thinking back now, he regretted pretending to be decent. He should’ve taken advantage while he had the chance, pinch what should be pinched, kiss wherever he wanted.
He was a scoundrel anyway.
Jiang Zao, feet bare against the cold floor, hopped anxiously around the bed as he searched for his pants. “Seriously, why did you throw my pants all the way over there…”
As he muttered, he lifted a leg and stepped right across Zhou Yuchi’s body.
Zhou Yuchi: “…”
He inhaled sharply, long and deep.
There were truly no words suitable for this situation.
If you’re not wearing pants… maybe don’t go stepping over someone’s face.
Those curves,
Those thighs,
Those… everything… were far too visible.
✦ ✧ ✦
Cressilia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Please distract the translator from abandoning everything with coffee. (ง •̀_•́)ง
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · The BossChapter 2 · Childhood FriendChapter 3 · Settlement of AccountChapter 4 · Button UnderwearChapter 5 · Open The DoorChapter 6 · (O△O)!Chapter 7 · Woe to himChapter 8 · Break The JarChapter 9 · Keep your promiseChapter 10 · MovieChapter 11 · Try on clothesChapter 12 · Hide! Hide! HIDE!Chapter 13 · ShameChapter 14 · ProtocolChapter 15 · TraceChapter 16 · What are you nervous about?Chapter 17 · Physical TestChapter 18 · Protect One’s OwnChapter 19 · MassageChapter 20 · BiteChapter 21 · Bring him homeChapter 22 · True LoveChapter 23 · After drinkingChapter 24 · MarketChapter 25 · Temporary TattooChapter 26 · Shooting GameChapter 27 · Escape GameChapter 28 · Terrifying dreamChapter 29 · ExhibitionChapter 30 · Pocky GameChapter 31 · TeasingChapter 32 · Pure scoundrelChapter 33 · Straight menChapter 34 · Gay BarChapter 35 · Lip lickingChapter 36 · Doesn’t seem like a good personChapter 37 · AddictionChapter 38 · Reporting videoChapter 39 · Rough LanguageChapter 40 · Wow!Chapter 41 · Hot spring resort～～Chapter 42 · It looks good!Chapter 43 · Hot SpringChapter 44 · HonestyChapter 45 · VinegarChapter 46 · I’ll keep you companyChapter 47 · Rocking ChairChapter 48 · VileChapter 49 · Losing ComposureChapter 50 · A Guide to Identifying Gay MenChapter 51 · Going HomeChapter 52 · KissChapter 53 · PeckChapter 54 · Pearl Wedding AttireChapter 55 · For No ReasonChapter 56 · Stop CalculatingChapter 57 · HandcuffsChapter 58 · Too FarChapter 59 · The MuzzleChapter 60 · Taking It FurtherChapter 61 · Does kissing feel good?Chapter 62 · HmmChapter 63 · GuidanceChapter 64 · VideoChapter 65 · No ProblemChapter 66 · Come DownChapter 67 · Is That All?Chapter 68 · HmphChapter 69 · Applying MedicineChapter 70 · ToysChapter 71 · BathroomChapter 72 · PlacementChapter 73 · WaitingChapter 74 · LoveChapter 75 · StarsChapter 76 · RoommateChapter 77 · BoyfriendChapter 78 · MouthChapter 79 · MidsummerChapter 80 · Aeroplane ChessChapter 81 · Ice CubesChapter 82 · All Night LongChapter 83 · SleepChapter 84 · The Alt AccountChapter 85 · End of the Main StoryChapter 86 · Extra 1Chapter 87 · Extra 2Chapter 88 · Extra 3Chapter 89 · Extra 4Chapter 90 · Extra 5Chapter 91 · Extra 6Chapter 92 · Extra 7Chapter 93 · Extra 8Chapter 94 · Extra 9Chapter 95 · Extra 10Chapter 96 · Extra 11