Dripping water penetrates stone; Wei Qing’s persistent pampering is able to make even Yue Fei excited for all that physical contact that he’d endlessly worried over.
Still, Yue Fei eventually peels them away from one another, nostrils flaring at the unpleasant feeling of his own release sticking between them and the vulnerability of being exposed and softening while Wei Qing is still mostly-put together. He separates their bodies and scrubs his reddened cheeks, tucks himself away before pulling a kiss-dazed Wei Qing up and sending him into his bathroom, the poor movie still playing out behind them, completely unappreciated. He wants to follow, especially when Wei Qing pulls him along, already stripping so prettily, but this stone hasn’t cracked quite yet.
“Wei Qing, be good.”
“I’m plenty good, or do you want me to demonstrate again?”
Ah, he really is, that’s the problem! Yue Fei feels his lower half valiantly twitching with interest, refractory period be damned. Naturally, the naughty thoughts and the inviting way Wei Qing peels off his spotted shirt and starts the shower brings Yue Fei’s focus directly onto him–
And to where his pants are still tented.
Right. For all the glory he’d just experienced (and the mess created) only one of them had reached the peak. Well, that absolutely couldn’t stand. As a fully-qualified assistant and someone with more than a little bit of a service kink (who would’ve thunk), he can’t leave Wei Qing alone to handle his own business. That wouldn’t be very good of him.
So, knowing that he’s going to be pushing his self-control to the absolute limit, Yue Fei pulls off his own shirt (he really can’t press against Wei Qing’s lovely bare skin and dirty him) and crowds the man against the marble edge of the vanity as steam slowly spreads around them.
It doesn’t take long. From the moment Yue Fei’s hands mimic Wei Qing’s first movements to when Wei Qing bites against his shoulder and spills against him, there’s not even time for the entire bathroom to become a tropical rainforest. Yue Fei finds it flattering and reassuring in equal measure; it seems his effect on Wei Qing is no less than Wei Qing’s on him.
“So good, so handsome.” Yue Fei peppers kisses and awed compliments against Wei Qing’s heated skin, teeth tracing his collarbone and hands dancing across his ribs.
—
Their posture is sloppily intimate, soft and relaxed and it would be so very easy to walk with one another into the shower, but Yue Fei resists. Eyes off the prize, Yue Fei slides Wei Qing’s pants all the way off his hips, hooks his black briefs, and pulls. Drops to his knees and presses the envelope by pressing a chaste kiss against Wei Qing’s twitching thigh, as his thumbs pull the fabric past his knees and calves and into a small pool on the floor. He experiences the taste of Wei Qing’s approval, experiences the power of looking up at him and seeing the way his entire existence is focused on just the two of them.
And then, because if he stays here a second longer, he’s going to lick Wei Qing clean, Yue Fei presses another kiss onto his opposite knee, turns around, and flees. He has the air of escaping a grenade that he’s just pulled the pin of, rushing towards a foxhole before everything is torn to smithereens.
He can hear Wei Qing’s exhausted, delighted laughter following him out the door, all the way past the grand battle still playing to an empty living room, and into his own little sanctuary. He needs a shower, needs time and the chilly scent of eucalyptus to clear his mind. And clean his body, because as hot as that had been, he really isn’t happy having bits of himself and Wei Qing clinging to his skin. At least, he isn’t happy having bits of it across him long-term. Not when he isn’t yet ready to press forward.
He likes his showers hotter than Wei Qing. Maybe it’s a holdover from not always having access to such luxury.
Under the lava-like spray, he scrubs his skin red and fresh, lathers up until he’s completely clean. Knocks his head against the tile and carefully catalogs every bit of their night, the way Wei Qing had tasted and looked and felt above him. Like perfection. Perfection that he was somehow allowed to cup in his hands, to not just protect but to build a life with.
Maybe it’s silly to think of such things after only a few weeks of declared interest. But whatever silliness Yue Fei has has always belonged to Wei Qing. All his positive emotions had, even when he was just his assistant. Yes, there is an odd normalcy in all of this. An inevitably to it.
And then, because this patient is very far into his disease, Yue slides into a fresh pair of boxers and heads to the living room, where the credits are finally playing, to collect all the soiled laundry and spot-clean their new couch.
What?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
They spent so long picking it out, he can’t just let it be stained the very first night they have any real use for it! Sure, part of him wants to lay his claim and mark the entire apartment with traces of their connection, but he’s not a beast. He won’t actually give in and do it.
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Speaking of that mouth-
Wei Qing’s laughter returns and rings the room, as he walks out and catches Yue Fei scotchguarding their recently debauched purchase. Yue Fei looks up and can’t help the catch in his breath; Wei Qing has no business looking so angelic, when just a few minutes ago, he’d been so devilishly stoking his fires. Leaning lazily against the doorframe, his gray sweatpants perfectly outlining the gift that Yue Fei had just unwrapped. No shirt, little kiss marks still standing out against his clavicle and neck, almost as if he’d avoided scrubbing down those areas, in the interest of preserving the proof of Yue Fei’s hunger for him.
(That’s exactly what he did).
“Ah, Yue Fei, you can’t take the night off, even after all that?” It’s teasing, not censure, and Yue Fei shakes his head ruefully as he squats and checks for any runaway droplets of- ah, there’s no need to think it! Droplets, just droplets, might as well be popcorn butter! He clears his throat and adopts an indifferent expression, but his red ears and the flush across his sternum exposes him.
“Taking the night off now means losing a whole morning tomorrow.” Yue Fei arches a brow and looks up with the (false) confidence of a film emperor, “And given how pleasant my recent breakfasts have been, I’d rather not.”
Ooh, he’s dangerous like this.
“Ah~ Alright, you convinced me. So what do we need to do, to keep tomorrow delicious?” Wei Qing walks over and drapes himself across Yue Fei’s back, warm skin against warm skin, their two body washes clashing pleasantly with the candles that are creating a charming fire hazard all around their newly-created laundry. It’s a miracle the two of them lived as long as they did.
Yue Fei twists his neck and licks just under Wei Qing’s chin before looking down and also nibbling against the outer shoulder that’s currently wrapped around him like a cardigan. “Be good and sort the laundry– dry cleaning vs what can go in the machine. If there’s no tag, it’s dry-cleaned only.”
Wei Qing bites where his neck meets his torso and hops off, cradling the throw to his chest before realizing that he’ll undo his shower if he keeps it up. Yue Fei snorts, Wei Qing preens. There’s no place for shame when your date ends so oddly spectacularly. Especially because–
Wei Qing daydreams while pulling his own clothes out of his bathroom and into the hamper, holding his breath in wide-eyed curiosity as he steps into Yue Fei’s private domain and repeats the process. He presses a kiss into Yue Fei’s mirror, a treat that his boyfriend won’t find until the next time he showers and the steam reveals it.
Ah, it’s been too long since he’s been in a relationship. And he’s never had one like this– even a few weeks and one orgasm are enough for him to be certain. This is something special, something different. With Gao Zhong, everything had been new and he’d been so uncertain; he’d just followed his lead, always worried about being the perfect sexpot that he thought he needed to be, the ideal partner that was demure but brilliant in public and debauched in private. Even in their closest moments, for Wei Qing, it was a performance, a never-ending audition for the other man.
But with Yue Fei?
Fuck, whose Netflix and chill ends with doing chores together? It imbues the entire thing with a divine normalcy, like this is their hundredth time together, instead of their first. There’s no pressure, just excitement at a new layer exposed, an added color in the painting that they’d long since started.
Yue Fei, for all those blazing kisses he’d pressed against him and the frantic way he’d reciprocated against the cool tile of Wei Qing’s bathroom, didn’t flip some switch into a new version of himself. He was the same Yue Fei, the same neat freak that made Wei Qing want to do the dirtiest things. And that let Wei Qing be his imperfect self, with the abs that never materialized and the clinginess that he no longer has to hide, because it’s what Yue Fei is used to, what Yue Fei appreciates about him. For some reason.
Wei Qing is able to release a breath he didn’t know he was holding, let go of worries that were so ingrained he didn’t even know how to name them until they became irrelevant. They are still themselves, even after coming apart against each other. There’s a security in that that Wei Qing didn’t know he needed, didn’t know to ask for, until Yue Fei had provided it. Maybe this is what it means, to be made for each other.
Wei Qing really hopes so. He’d be honored to be made for such a man.
—
The laundry is separated, the bathroom is explored– Wei Qing’s been so good that he has to push at least a little bit more. He puckishly slides off his pajama bottoms and pulls off his fresh underwear, neatly folding and hiding them underneath Yue Fei’s pillow.
Make sure you dream of me, baby. Sweet dreams only.
The smile on his face as he walks in is captivating, laundry basket on his hip and pants slung dangerously low. Yue Fei knows him well enough to know that he’s done something in his room, but he has to admit, he’s looking forward to discovering what. He’s excited enough that he doesn’t even press for details, just stands up and nods at the freshly spot-cleaned couch.
“Finished?”
“Mmm, finished.” Wei Qing follows him into the laundry room, then follows him out, plastered to his front like spooning isn’t just for bed anymore. They find their way back to the couch, and the title screen, asking if they want to play the movie again. Neither of them can name the main character, or even explain the plot beyond what’s described in the three sentence synopsis. Wei Qing teases.
“So, how’d you like the film?” Wei Qing cuddles against him, his damp hair sticking to Yue Fei’s exposed stomach, one hand flung up to rest his knuckles against an equally bare thigh while the other traces the stubble on his face.
“Life-changing, really fine craftsmanship.” Yue Fei presses that hand down, encouraging good behavior even as his tone turns syrupy in its indulgence. In retrospect, showing up to clean without even a pair of sweats might have been a mistake. Wei Qing is dangerous, he needs layers to hold them back. In the interest of avoiding more laundry-creating events, Yue Fei grabs a throw pillow and wedges it between his groin and Wei Qing’s beautiful head and hands.
Wei Qing laughs but acts very well-behaved as he lets him.
“Good boy.” Yue Fei runs a nail around Wei Qing’s nipple, even as he praises him. Mixed signals, heh. It’s lucky Wei Qing is so pliant, so used to having his appetite hung by this delicious man. It’s early enough that they end up watching the movie again.
They still can’t tell you much anything about it.
—
Meanwhile, Wei Qiwan really is peeping. Not inside the apartment, of course. But into Yue Fei’s past.
Long Shouning’s team is tragically well-prepared, and distressingly fast. Wei Qiwan wants the information, but after weeks of his own people failing, he is a little distressed by the very professional dossier that Ms. Long sends him. Ah, he’s going to have to call her jiejie forever now, there’s no containing this momentum.
This is why Wei Securities shouldn’t go after government contracts! How can they possibly compete with this tigress with a dragon’s reach and name?! Much better to let her stretch her claws and follow after, catching the prey beneath her notice, okay?
“…thank you jiejie.”
“Ah, so sweet, so sweet, say it again!”
“…Jiejie.”
“Anytime, darling. You were always my favorite junior, with your neat little socks and your too-organized notes.” She’s crooning in a delighted way that few would associate with the Amazonian business giant. Unfortunately, Wei Qiwan is very familiar with that tone.
Wei Qiwan would like to go back and strangle his younger self.
Or at least loosen his school-mandated tie a little and highlight his hair a bit. But no, he really had looked like a teenaged little businessman, up to and including bringing his toddler brother around to show off like a proud papa instead of chasing girls and spending every weekend getting drunk with his brothers in the KTV like a rich second-generation should. If Long Shouning ever found out about his little crush on her, he’d really never recover.
She’s just too competent!
Indeed, the dossier is… thorough. Where Wei Qiwan only had broad strokes, Long Shouning’s team has managed to collect videotaped interviews and family trees and even a DNA comparison. How they got Yue Fei’s genetic information, much less that of the mysterious guru behind him, Wei Qiwan truly couldn’t guess.
…Maybe he should hire her to discredit Gao Zhong, if these are the kind of results she can get as a throwaway favor to a friend.
“So, you going to tell me why you’re looking into someone that’s been employed by your family for nearly a decade already?” Right, Ms. Long is still on speakerphone. Her voice turns a little icy. “Did he do something? Do you need me to take care of him?”
The woman will always be terrifying.
“Nothing like that. He’s just- eh, maybe my future brother-in-law. I just want a clearer understanding of what QingQ- um, of what my brother is getting himself into.” He shuffles the papers and reminds himself that he’s a CEO, and not a little kid playing detective or searching for hidden presents.
It’s not very effective.
“Ah? Ah! Oh, Papa Wei, how do you feel about your little cabbage being dug up?” Long Shouning laughs over the line like a knife in the dark. “Well, if nothing else, I can confidently say that your brother should be perfectly content in all bed matters. That group might not be much for a formal education, but they all know how to fuck.”
“Thanks, I hate it.”
This wasn’t comforting at all! And Long Shouning, can you pay a little more attention to your image as an untouchable and icy flower? You’re a goddess of war! Saying things like ‘fuck.’ Honestly! …And in reference to what that man might be doing with his didi! Might already have done!
Truly, a failure of education.
Long Shouning was the baby (and only girl) in her family. She didn’t understand the pain of elder brothers having to confront such things. Why couldn’t their siblings stay pure and little forever? Why did they have to chase after adulthood? Why was time linear and inescapable?! It’s bullying, is what it is.
He thanks her again and hangs up, clicking through a USB drive of interviews with a young woman who had left the cult, but also was inside it at the right time to know a young Yue Fei. That’s the elusive sliver of Venn diagram that the Wei Securities team had been unable to grasp, but based on the timestamp, Long Shouning’s team had picked her up and convinced her to speak only six days after he asked.
There truly were mountains beyond mountains.
Wei Qiwan presses play, ready to learn more about the man who has captured his brother’s heart while he was meant to be guarding it.
Author’s Corner:
A bonus chapter, because it’s a holiday and also, this is a fairly short one. There’s absolutely nothing Wei Qiwan can do about his ‘step on me’ energy, btw. It’s terminal.
Things get a bit heavy next one, so sweetness first.
Yue Fei cleaning because he wouldn’t be able to sleep off the horniness is a mood. And. Author. Your little end notes give me life
Thank you for the chapter (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b
I think i’ll want to murder some people in the next chapter so i’ll start to sharpen the knives
They ARE made for each other 😍😍😍 with all the sweetness we’ve been fed, I’m truly afraid of what’s to come 😭
Wei Qiwan slowly grows more endearing, and definitely has step-on-me energy. Big business baby dork.
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Heavy is scary
She made it sound like Yue Fei would be the lead in bed – pretty funny that the thing she’s wrong about is what makes Wei Qiwan the most uncomfortable 😆. I love Wei Qing’s little prank and that Yue Fei can tell he was up to something.
thanks for the chapter <3
Both of our couple really has the potential of being a switch. 🙃
What if Wei Qing wants you to be a beast? 🤣
Thank you for the chapter!