Wei Qing’s throat hurts; they stop and buy milk tea from a 24-hour store before calling a cab home. The tea has that artificial taste of low-quality mass production, but Wei Qing finds it novel, and Yue Fei– Yue Fei got mineral water instead.
Wei Qing would tease him, but he’s got a small shadow in his heart and just knows that if he starts, Yue Fei will pull his phone back out and start praising him as an idol again.
And here on the street, there are no pillows to hide his face in.
So instead, he drinks his tea and finds a bin and very demurely gets into the cab when it arrives. Perfectly reserved, if you ignore the way his hand slides into Yue Fei’s back pocket and steals a chance to grope when no one else is around.
“Be good.”
“That’s not a very nice way to talk to your idol.”
“I’m just worried about others seeing and becoming black powder. Naturally, this fan is delighted.”
The cab driver very thoughtfully turns up the radio.
“What do you wanna do when we get home?”
“Hold you.”
“…Good. Me too.”
Wei Qing rests his head on Yue Fei’s shoulder and watches the clock tick closer to 2 AM. Probably, other than the tragically overworked, they’re the only ones coming home sober at this hour. But Wei Qing thinks that’s just right. The two of them, doing what makes them happy, temporarily in their own world.
If it weren’t for his cool (already totally crumbled) delinquent appearance, he’d be tempted to ask Yue Fei for a carry into their building and up into the elevator. Instead, he pays the cab driver and tickles the inside of his boyfriend’s palm and languidly kisses him all the way to the top floor. It’s a lovely compromise, not too much, not too little.
The kiss feels like slipping into a warm bath at the end of a long day, relaxing and indulgent without the expectation of turning into anything more. Wei Qing extends this relaxation by avoiding the places that might hurt– Avoid pushing too much, avoid going into places stamped with the scent of the nights spent between them, and the horrid one spent apart.
Instead, for the first time ever, he and Yue Fei sleep wrapped around one another in the unused guest bedroom. One needs holding, one wants to hold.
—
Wei Qiwan should know better than to bother him this early in the morning.
That’s Wei Qing’s thought, as he silences his phone and nuzzles back into Yue Fei’s arms. Turns out, the guest bedroom has a serious downside. No blackout curtains to block the lovely view of the skyline, with the ribbon of the river glinting in the distance and the damned sun cheerfully insisting that people wake up and be productive. Even the birds look displeasing this early in the day, and Wei Qing loves the dumbass birds that try to roost in their unroostable outdoor areas.
He whines and hides his head and blindly brings up one warm hand to block Yue Fei’s eyes. No doubt, Yue Fei’s even more tired than he is. The least he can do is keep his boyfriend from being woken up. Just as his hand somewhat messily slides into place over Yue Fei’s deep eyes, his palm is pulled down and bitten, and a certain handsome person with a very warm body chuckles to life where they are plastered together. His back is rubbed and he’s pulled a little closer so that the leg lazily thrown over Yue Fei’s thigh gets closer to a certain goal. If he was a cat, he’d purr.
“Awake, Idol?”
“I beg you, don’t.” Nevermind. No purr, only hiss.
“You would be a cute one though.”
“Weren’t your ears abused enough?” The cat makes the brave choice to hide and nibble.
“The hard of hearing also deserve to watch beautiful people sing.”
“Rude. Fair, but rude. As punishment, from now on, this idol will only sing for you.” Less nibble, more bite.
“Mmm.”
Yue Fei pulls off the shirt that he’d slept in and lets Wei Qing bite more freely. Wei Qing of course takes advantage, though every flash of teeth is followed by a kiss, lick, or suck that, based on the information from Comrade Leg, seems to be having an invigorating effect on his ‘fan club.’
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.
“Work?” There’s no judgment in the question, no pressure to perform. Yue Fei’s so very good at this, even early in the morning. It makes Wei Qing want to be good too.
“Zwwqt. P uefrr. Po P’w cba atfgf atf wjgxfalcu afjw wluta mbwf eq klat ragjluta wjc mbibg rmtfwfr jujlc. P mjc’a ifa beg mtlivgfc yf kgbcufv ilxf atja, fnfc lo atf rec lr j vfjat ijrfg.”
“C nfgs ubbv ojatfg.”
“P ags, P ags.” Qfl Hlcu olcjiis qgbqr tlwrfio eq, regnfslcu tlr kbgx bo jyragjma lwqgfrrlbclrw atja lr yibbwlcu ogbw Tef Mfl’r ylmfq ab pera jybnf tlr cjnfi. Vegf fcbeut, tf tjr atf rbei bo jc jgalra. Aera nfgs ilaaif bo atf vglnf, jcv cb vfrlgf ab rtjgf tlr kbgx klat batfgr. Lf xlrrfr j olclrtlcu rlucjaegf jybnf Tef Mfl’r tfjga.
“Are you good going back?” Fun is fun, but he wants Yue Fei to know that he can do more than just distract him. He can block and run interference and even get physical if he wants.
“Why wouldn’t I-?” Although Yue Fei had sounded awake, based on how long it takes him to parse Wei Qing’s offer, maybe he hadn’t been up that much earlier after all. After a pause, he understands, verifies. “Your brother?”
Wei Qing nods and kisses Yue Fei’s cheek, eager to check for shadows. Yue Fei pulls him up and mimics the gesture. Yue Fei’s dismissal of his own needs comes automatically before Wei Qing cages him more fully and he pauses.
“It’s fine. I-” Yue Fei looks to the side as if having some internal debate, before finishing the thought. “Actually. If possible, I’d… rather not see him, for a bit? Just until I have time to get over… I didn’t really expect. I don’t blame him, or you, but it’s still…”
Wei Qing helps:
“Awkward?” Violating and weird and exposing? Although Wei Qing has never had such pain pulled out of the mouths of others, the worst parts of his life recounted like some story for strangers…
He remembers how stripped he felt, the first time he heard the sounds of himself orgasming over the phone from some reporter who was going to send it to his mom, his shame and fury the first time his brother punched the wall, threw an entire USB of squashed sex tapes in his face and told him to stop aiming for his friends or to clean up his own mess next time. There are parts of yourself that just aren’t meant for others. Things that no matter how reasonable the reason, no matter if it’s for your own good, that you’re not okay with others having witnessed. Wei Qing knows, Wei Qing understands.
“Yeah. That.”
“Well, in addition to being a barbeque and bullshit master, your idol is the world’s foremost expert at avoiding Wei Qiwan.” He hooks Yue Fei’s chin and winks devilishly. “Follow me beauty, and you can avoid him until the heat death of the universe.”
—
Wei Qing [7:43]: Hey, don’t bother Yue Fei.
Wei Qiwan [7:43]: When have I bothered him?
Wei Qing [7:43]: You know what I mean. Just, don’t approach until approached, or I’m not coming into the office.
Wei Qiwan [7:43]: [This message was withdrawn]
Wei Qiwan [7:45]: [This message was withdrawn]
Wei Qiwan [7:47]: Fine.
Wei Qing [7:47]: Thanks. And for what it’s worth
Wei Qing [7:47]: Thanks for keeping a room for me, or whatever.
….
Wei Qiwan [7:53]: Okay then?
Wei Qing [7:53]: Better than okay.
Wei Qiwan [7:55]: Good. Your upsell report is due in three weeks.
Wei Qing slips his phone back into his trouser pocket and pulls Yue Fei’s tie, dragging the man of the hour into one last kiss before the elevator doors open. Upsells. Even when you’re happy with something, there’s always a way to make it better. He’s ready to apply business principles to himself and be an even better boyfriend. After all, as Yue Fei’s idol, there’s a lot of pressure to not be a one-hit-wonder.
—
Wei Qiwan manages to behave himself. Although he’s no doubt boiling with the desire to interfere, either to offer advice or awkward consoling, he doesn’t send any weird messages or hijack the elevators or schedule any meetings, accidental or otherwise.
It gives Yue Fei the space he needs.
He’s not angry. He’s just… complex.
Although he’d known that he’d need to share with Wei Qing, and it was glaringly obvious that his explanation was bad and messy and self-defeating, his past sins are something that he’d buried in the north, with the bones of his youthful passions. Sharing with Wei Qing was painful but needed. Partners don’t hide such big things from one another. But sharing with Wei Qiwan…
Even in his last life, he hadn’t. For all their closeness, it had all been about Wei Qing. Not whatever was lurking in their past. It was inconsequential, and the scabs and scars were left undisturbed.
Though, based on the video… Maybe he’d known, and just never mentioned it. Either way, thinking about what was on those tapes and the image it must show makes Yue Fei feel like ants are gnawing on his bones. With Wei Qing, it’s worth it. With Wei Qiwan…
If that man says the wrong thing, Yue Fei will probably deck him. And Wei Qiwan says the wrong thing rather a lot.
So it’s better to avoid one another. Yue Fei knows that this uncharacteristic silence must be Wei Qing’s doing. His kisses and caresses and even his cooking grows more pampering as a result. If Wei Qing didn’t insist on reciprocation, he’d have spent the entire week on his knees repaying him.
But Wei Qing doesn’t like him thinking that way, so he calls Lu-laoshi more regularly and tries to break this overcompensating coping mechanism. The results? Eh, it’s inconsistent. Lots of backslides. But Lu-laoshi says it’s good that he’s aware and trying at all.
He also says lots of nice things about Yue Fei’s partner, which makes Yue Fei feel warm and protected, in a way he had only recently learned to hope for.
Partners. Partners are people on equal footing.
Because they want to be.
—
Three weeks later, Yue Fei follows Wei Qing up to present his upsell strategy to Wei Qiwan and the Chief Marketing and Financial officers. It’s a good soft launch– Yue Fei can evaluate the roiling in his stomach and the awkwardness of Wei Qiwan’s character without actually having to speak to him. A blessing for all involved– even Wei Qiwan seems to feel the shift in the air and tries to lower his momentum.
There’s lots of marketing lingo and price points and even some technical specs about removable memory upgrades vs. benchmarked tiers and all Yue Fei has to do is sit with Wei Qing and Project Manager Wang and pass Wei Qing folders and mints and squeeze his hand twice under the table. At the end, they stay for questions and Mr. Wang goes back down to report the good news, and only then does Yue Fei make brief eye contact with Wei Qiwan.
Awkward, but not so bad.
Wei Qing rewards him with a kiss that lasts all the way until the seventeenth floor.
—
Of course, the drive home is still the drive home. Wei Qing finally remembers his neglected mobile games and logs in to check if a new banner is out. Although whales can get any character they want with enough patience, materials still need to be honestly farmed, and new heroes are always falling out of the stars.
As soon as he enters the celestial door, he’s invited to join his little follower’s world. So needy. Wei Qing rolls his eyes with a small smile on his lips and dutifully enters.
Plant the Soft Mountain: Brother! QAQ! I thought you gave up your account.
If there was an animation for rolling on the ground and kicking one’s feet, Wei Qing is pretty sure the little blonde-haired boy would be spamming it. This follower claims to be an adult, but Wei Qing always gets the distinct air of middle school.
Pure Constellations: Have you seen the value of my account? I won’t shelf it so casually.
Plant the Soft Mountain: Then was brother ill?
Pure Constellations: So sticky. 2D characters are fun, but my boyfriend is the highest rarity. If I disappear in the future, just assume that I’m living my life.
In the interest of not corrupting the young into early dating, Wei Qing keeps his praise of Yue Fei restrained. Otherwise, he’d be setting off fireworks. That at least, there’s a cosmetic for! He could download the game on Yue Fei’s phone and get them matching frames and set them as one another’s top friend. Silly, but appealing. Actually, the next time he gets the chance, he’ll definitely try to seduce his real-world boyfriend into becoming his online husband. Lure him with pets and cute cosmetics. Speaking of which, as an elder…
Pure Constellations: Hey, you know you should invest in your offline life too. It’s not good to be too addicted to the game world.
Plant the Soft Mountain: I’m not addicted! I’m very successful in the real world. I just think this game is fun, and it’s more fun with you. Don’t tell me you’re one of those people whose partners forbid gaming!
Pure Constellations: No??? My boyfriend is the leader of my fan club, you know.
Wei Qing smiles and spins his phone, stealing glances at Yue Fei’s handsome driving posture. He should make buttons. Maybe a lanyard.
Plant the Soft Mountain: He doesn’t restrict you?
Pure Constellation: He’s very good. Hey, little tail. Want me to carry you through dungeons or keep complaining?
Plant the Soft Mountain: Temper, temper! Okay, I’ll zip it, let’s go farm!
Wei Qing feels a little less pleased with this bear child than normal but still takes him to get materials and even runs him through a main quest as an apology for disappearing and leaving the limited-edition event incomplete in his journal. It’s not the kid’s fault. After all, the one time that Wei Qiwan had a date when he was in middle school, Wei Qing may or may not have pretended to be rabid to scare the girl away.
Probably why it only happened once, with Wei Qiwan keeping all his future dates away from his clingy and monopolizing twelve-year-old self. As Yue Fei cuts the engine, Wei Qing makes a quick goodbye and logs off. 2D husbands really can’t compare at all.
In a villa forty-five minutes away, Gao Zhong smiles, soft and indulgent and dangerous.
—
It’s been a long time.
There’s been plenty of touching, plenty of closeness, plenty of words of affirmation.
But this– For the first time in almost two weeks, Yue Fei is sliding inside him.
“Feel so good.” Wei Qing looks down, eyes hooded and cheeks flaming as he coos and pistons himself against Yue Fei. “Baby always hits just where I need.”
It’s slow. The kind of slow that Wei Qing whined about and begged over before, but now he’s got all the patience in the world. It’s just the ability to walk that’s on the line. If his thighs give out again, he can just be a consumptive beauty and let his man carry him around for a few days. Maybe it’ll even be the push he needs to start doing squats. Stranger things have happened.
Slow and candlelit and there’s even classical music playing, in a setup that would be unbearably cheesy if Wei Qing wasn’t so earnest in making this reintroduction safe and sweet and perfect.
Still, everything needs a little flavor.
Dinner had been forgotten, the show had been paused, and they were on the floor, Yue Fei leaning against the couch and looking up at him like he’s the answer to all of life’s questions. Kissing him and ghosting his fingers across Wei Qing’s flushed bare skin like he’s blind and reading braille from every pore.
“Can I push you deeper?” Wei Qing’s almost breathless and struggling to keep his eyes open against the slow torture. But he wants Yue Fei to see the dilation in his pupils, to know just how fucking much he wants this. How right he feels to sink down on him. Yue Fei’s hands grow hotter as he nods, his nails drawing pink lines like curled angel’s wings down Wei Qing’s back and sides.
“Want you too.” Yue Fei manages to speak, hoarse and enthralled.
Wei Qing doesn’t forget to praise him.
“Baby. Baby, so good, the best, perfect, made for me.”
‘Made for you’ had had a really poor reaction a week earlier, but ‘made for me’ earns Wei Qing what almost feels like a snap of Yue Fei’s hips. Impressive, given the physics of their position. Wei Qing’s thrown back head falls forward and his praise ends up leaving a wet trail against Yue Fei’s neck and collarbone instead.
Close enough to heaven, it’s an equally good place to give thanks. In the interest of his quaking thighs and general bliss, when he finally bottoms out, controlled riding turns into slow, circular grinding. Yue Fei captures his nipples with his teeth and massages his waist and, every so often, returns Wei Qing’s endless stream of babbling compliments with his own soft praise.
Wei Qing can’t say how long it lasts. He can’t even say what he said. He just knows that Yue Fei is lovely and being connected with him, like this, feels right down to his bones. That when they finally find release and Yue Fei pants and presses sloppy kisses against his sternum as he softens, Wei Qing doesn’t want to get up, doesn’t want to clean up, doesn’t want to turn one body into two for a second.
He’s sleepy and content and feels warm and loved. He wants Yue Fei to feel that too.
Wei Qing’s head rolls to the side and he wraps his arms around Yue Fei’s overheated back, his voice the velvet of sleep about to come.
“Yue Fei, love you so much. Just you, you and me, forever.”
He thinks he hears Yue Fei respond, but he can’t be sure. Might just be the tendril of a dream pulling him in.
—
Yue Fei gets to experience, for the first time ever, the classic trope of carrying the sleeping beauty to the bathroom to be cleaned up. It’s…
Fuck, it’s harder than you think, to get up off the floor while still inside someone, and to carry a fully grown man when your foot is asleep. He’s pretty sure this is how people get terrible fractures in unmentionable places. He’s also dreadfully certain that he hears drips. Drips, on the floor and rug and he knew he should have bought that carpet cleaner instead of renting. Still, the alternative is to stop hugging Wei Qing, so Yue Fei bravely becomes a weeble who wobbles but doesn’t fall down.
Luckily, Wei Qing is mostly asleep and very compliant and keeps his beautiful eyes closed, allowing Yue Fei to maintain his majestic aura through the frankly embarrassing process of getting up, getting to the bathroom, and getting Wei Qing and himself clean enough that he won’t wake up in the morning wanting to do laundry for six hours. After all, tomorrow is reserved for inspecting the rug.
And then, because his boyfriend loves him and loves having sex with him and says he’s the best at it, over and over again– Yue Fei doesn’t bother dressing them, not even into the underwear that he pretty much always pulls on. Instead, he internalizes the night’s lessons and pleasure and gives himself permission to pull Wei Qing into his arms and spoon him.
It helps that as soon as he does, Wei Qing makes a pleased little murmur and instinctively kisses the arm he’s using as a pillow.
Even in his sleep, Wei Qing is like this. Likes him, wants him, trusts him. Not faking.
Wei Qing is his, and he’s Wei Qing’s. For all the messiness and the winding paths that led them here, they’re together, because they want it. Want each other. Free and clear.
Author’s Corner:
Hi, have covid and almost forgot to post this, nevermind proofreading it. (I’m fine, just really sleepy and scratchy and medicated).
Please let me know if you find typos. 
Hey thanks for the chapter hope you feel better soon<3
oh no! please take care. Healing vibes to you
I was feeling completely lifeless when I was positive, so I hope you feel better soon ♡
Drink a lot of tea to avoid your throat getting sore from all the coughing, I recommend Chamomile with honey and ginger with lemons and honey.
Rest well T-T
I think there is a typo in the paragraph were Wei Qing elaborates how ashamed of himself he felt when other people found/saw/received his sextapes.
It says : “There are parts of yourself that just aren’t met for others”
I think that “meant” instead of “met” would sound way better, but English is not my first language and I haven’t been learning it for long, so maybe I’m just not understanding the sentence right
😅
Nope, you’re absolutely right! Fixed and thank you–
You’re welcome ♡
I hope you are feeling better
So, do they still make Weebles or do you just know antique toys for some reason? And consumptive beauty 😆 starting to think you’re not a kid 🤔. Sorry bout the covid. Sleep a lot, and the secret weapons are hot and sour soup (or just put ginger, cayenne and lemon or vinegar in your chicken soup), and Dragon Balm (probably Vic’s vapor rub works but it doesn’t have THC 😉) and don’t try to keep regular day/night hours if you don’t have to. Too stressful. Good work today!
I am old and my bones hurt, it’s true.
Also, hot and sour soup was the big winner!
Take care ! Wish you to be more healthy than their rug (poor rug). And didn’t thought for a second his game friend would be Bad Ex so shook Σ(°ロ°) (totally thought it was Wei Qiwan by the 12 year old mentality)
What a lengthy chapter so full (like someone /die)
Thank you for that 🍨
Get well soon, and rest plenty untill then!
And thank you so much for this lovely, lovely story!
Did gao zhong seriously did what i think he did…
Please take care and get better soon!!
I was suspicious of him bein the little guy in the game bc he knows abt wq and his whaling in games. Seems to be the case. Hes not happy bein snuffed. And get well soon, author. My friend recently got COVID too. Seems to be coming n going now but much less than the last cpl yrs.