Moon Theory (ABO)Ch107 - alright, my little fox

[two nights later, nexus laboratory]

“H-He… morphed back into a human!” Aria shrieks out. Her tone is an unclear mix of fright and excitement. She latches onto the person next to her – a young teenager who is two heads shorter. “Tang Tang! Go and get Shi—ahh! He’s out on an expedition now of all times! This is the discovery of a lifetime – no, of an entire millennium! We’ve never once had a successful morph! Hurry and contact Shi Luo! How could he miss such an interesting development?!” gGUuYj

“…A human bear,” the young teenager comments. He stares at the person inside the glass cage – the hybrid takes the form of an unfamiliar, tall man. His eyes are closed, his body limp from sedation, and his skin is skill covered by patches of brown fur. “Is he conscious?”

Aria squints her eyes.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“That… I’m not sure,” she replies with a low cough. The young scientist refuses to be deterred, however, and her eyes are brightened soon enough. She latches onto Ming Tang, disregards all personal space, and quips up excitedly, “But I am sure he is alive!”

“Oh,” Ming Tang replies. Contrary to her energy, the young teen is listless and quite frankly, a bore to be around. There is still interest in his eyes, however. “This is one of the specimens that General Xie released?” w4kOzm

At his words, Aria quickly looks around the vicinity – no one but the two of them in this personal lab. The young woman raises a finger to her lips and whispers, “Shh, Tang Tang, don’t speak about the ex-general so casually. The root of the incident hasn’t been released to the public, but speculations run rampant. His name holds too much stigma right now, and it’d only trigger public unrest.”

“Oh.”

“…But it really makes you wonder what his motives are,” Aria muses to herself. “Shi Luo told me not to delve deeper into it, but I cannot help otherwise. What do you think, Tang Tang?”

“You were there during the initial outbreak,” Ming Tang says. “You can think a little harder and figure it out.”

“You brat,” she scolds him and smacks him with the back of a notepad. Aria sweeps her eyes through the laboratory again, despite there being no other occupants. The slated walls reflect on white lights, shining back on Aria’s overly eager eyes. “Is it related to him? That person Shi Luo is infatuated with.”

She leans forward and lowers her voice some more, as if sharing some deeply rooted secret. “I’ve seen him one time—accidentally in Shi Luo’s office. I think, Tang Tang, that Shi Luo’s lover is a hybrid.”

The last word is emphasized, and she repeats it once more with heavier weight. “A hybrid,” she slaps Ming Tang a tad forcefully on the back, prompting for a reaction. “A fox hybrid.”

Ming Tang only raises a brow in response. “Dr. Shi hadn’t informed you about him?” yPkqAp

“…You knew?”

“Despite that, you were asked to retrieve him from the shipment room?”

“Well I…” Aria recovers instantly. With a proud expression on her face, she says, “I don’t ask questions. Whatever Shi Luo tells me, I just do.”

“…Oh.” Iiy2d

Before their conversation can continue, a buzzing sound comes from the entrance door. A female worker enters with a trolley. Upon spotting the assistant and the young intern, she gives a nod and a polite smile.

“We are moving this specimen to laboratory six,” she says while gesturing to the trolley. On it is a thick glass tank, and inside that tank is an unconscious human – half human, what with the strangely morphed body and furred mane. “Dr. Shi had requested for its transfer after preliminary tests showed DNA correlations between this specimen and one of yours. I was told to contain it here if it is fine with you, Ms. Miyahara.”

“DNA correlations?” Aria asks with undisguised interest.

She peers over and studies the specimen – brunette hair that extends down the torso, brown fur that covers most of the body. The face is incongruous with the deformities, however – too clean and quite graceful. tQJoNz

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.

“Ursus arctos?” Aria ponders. “Well we do have another bear specimen.”

“Ktf Rfzer rerqfmar atfgf mbeiv yf j ilcxjuf yfakffc yfjg jcv tewjc ufcbwfr… Dea cbatlcu lr mbcolgwfv sfa. Pa lr abb fjgis ab obgw j njilv tsqbatfrlr, fnfc.” Ktf sbecu nlrlabg rtjxfr tfg tfjv jcv afiir Cglj, “Fcobgaecjafis, atja’r jii atf lcobgwjalbc P tjnf. P gfugfa cba yflcu jyif ab qgbnlvf wbgf obg gfrfjgmt.”

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“Well…” Aria strokes her own chin and stares, lost in thought, at the glass tank. “The linkage may be just coincidental… I don’t know if there’ll be any progression…”

“—It’s okay,” comes Ming Tang’s voice to the side. The teenager is crouched down on the floor, staring at the specimen with a blank, yet expressive look in his eyes. “A centimeter of progress is still progress. If there’s no progress at all, then at least, we aren’t moving backwards.” 9bdgek

Ming Tang turns around and makes eye contact with the young assistant.

He says in finality, “Well, that’s what Dr. Shi told me.”

—

Noah awakes to a solid block of warmth. 5afup3

It takes several laggard blinks to come to alacrity, several more low gasps and deep breaths to relieve the pain… When the throbbing in his head subsides, the throbbing of his backside does not. It is one small shift on the bed that makes his limbs ache and his bones break.

Noah wholly believes he had never experienced such horrible cramps in his life.

He feels a calloused hand resting down his hip, warm breaths snaking down the sensitives of his neck, and he also feels a person’s chest flush against his back. Noah decides to take out all his frustrations.

He immediately flips their bodies, lays on top, and drags a clawed hand up the man’s neck. Belatedly, Noah realizes he isn’t fully human yet. And also belatedly, Noah realizes he is fully naked underneath the quilt – but he hasn’t the time to care about that aspect when he meets a pair of radiant, viridescent eyes. Rfyljq

Yang Rong smiles in all his charming, irritatingly handsome glory. With a voice deepened in the droves of sleep, he says, “Good morning, baby.”

Noah meets the smile with one of his own – a very well-practiced, even more charming smile that seems to catch the man off-guard.

Noah’s eyes curve in crescents to match. He leans down and whispers by the colonel’s ear, “Had your fun, Rong-ge?”

Yang Rong blinks, stares (quite smitten) for a long time, and then replies, “Kitten, if you are asking about our engagements some nights prior, it is only regretful that we were unable to continue. Though, if you continue to climb onto me naked like this… I may get the impression that you’re up for several more rounds.” UJ6S u

Noah does not miss the tiniest lift of the colonel’s lips, the subtlest smirk that graces those attractive features. Noah curls a nail, and enjoys its scrape against firm skin – a petty vengeance if anything, because both parties are all too aware he is too weakened to do more. His sore muscles remind of the more-than-vigorous activities that had taken place. Just when Noah is trying to piece all the events together, he feels a crippling pain beneath.

“…” He directly collapses on top of Yang Rong and doesn’t bother to say a single thing.

Yang Rong, at the very least, has the decency to sound concerned. The man rubs soothing motions on his back, kneads his hips, snakes down to his bottom… And just when Noah is beginning to suspect hidden motives, Yang Rong expertly retracts back up.

“Do you need painkillers, Noah? I’ve also prepared food. Rong-ge can go out hunting if you’d like to eat fish… Alternatively, if you are in need of carbohydrates, there are raisins in the pantry – I wouldn’t hold to the expiration dates, however. I’ve eaten them six months past and there aren’t any problems.” aMoy4Q

“…”

Yang Rong, upon feeling something off, immediately corrects himself with a cough. “…I’ve brought all sorts of canned foods. You may help yourself to Rong-ge’s kitchen as well, alright? …And the generators are all running properly. Heaters, air conditioners, refrigerators… hot water, gas… Everything is perfect for your recovery, kitten.”

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“My insides are ruptured,” Noah states plainly. “If I eat anything besides broth, I’ll throw it up on you.”

“…Then… Rong-ge will learn to make broth,” Yang Rong says cajolingly, placing kisses on his ears. “And porridge. Whatever you like, Rong-ge will make it for you to eat.” 5FbUtN

“I want to eat you.”

“…” Yang Rong is at a loss for words. After a while, however, he concedes. “…Alright. I’m yours to eat.”

Noah really does bite him on the neck – only, the bite lessens to a tiny prickle, then to a ticklish, then to a simple brush of lips on skin. He traces up the muscles on Yang Rong’s neck before failing to do any more.

“Another time,” Noah murmurs weakly. “When I can move, I will take my time skewering you.” mych4B

At that, Yang Rong lets out a low chuckle – Noah finds himself so drawn to the tenor of the man’s voice.

“Alright,” Yang Rong whispers just as cajolingly, wrapping him into an embrace. “Then for now, what do you want to do, little kitten? Should I carry you out for a walk? A breath of fresh air… because I don’t want you cooped too long in my cage.”

“…Mm.”

Noah neither agrees nor declines. He opts to remain still with his eyes closed for a while. Five minutes more, and Yang Rong must’ve thought he’d fallen asleep, for the man gently moves him back onto the bed. Slightly back to awareness, Noah can make out the cigarette smoke quite deeply mixed with vetiver. 7x9bH1

He opens his eyes, unexpectedly staring straight at Yang Rong who is dipped in to steal a kiss. The colonel pauses at the sudden awaking, but it doesn’t deter him from kissing Noah anyway. Yang Rong’s soft smile can be felt when their lips lock. It’s a chaste kiss they’ve shared of many. It hints apology, tenderness and many more unspoken, unasked thoughts.

Noah whispers after they retract a negligible centimeter, “I didn’t know you smoked often.”

“Not often,” Yang Rong replies, matching his volume in kind. “Only when I need to clear my mind. Does the scent bother you?”

Noah shakes his head lightly. “Mm. It’s alright if it isn’t habitual.” Imdfx

Yang Rong stares at him for a while. Under his gaze, Noah always feels some sort of vulnerability – perhaps not too long ago, he’d attribute it to fear and mistrust. Now, he only allows the colonel to examine his unhuman eyes – vertical pupils, clouded irises, drowsed and with a linger of eros.

He also allows Yang Rong to trace over his fangs, to caress his ears. A part of him wishes to hide his strange, unsightly state, but Yang Rong only removes his pale hands from his face, holds his claws so he cannot hide. And Yang Rong, for all his usual sadism and tease, has a way with words that makes him all the more flustered.

“Hiding?” Yang Rong chuckles fondly. “Don’t hide. You are beautiful, Noah.”

Noah turns his head sideways and murmurs, “…How strange you are, Colonel Yang.” taqiy5

Yang Rong only chuckles again and lightly scratches his jaw for attention. “What are you thinking of to be so lost in thought?”

The time is a quarter until six. The bedroom is barren sans the hanging clock, the nightstand and the adjacent lamp. Noah has woken up several times to the same sight – none of those times when he was as cognizant as he is now.

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“I am only thinking that it is strange,” he replies quietly, “to be here with you like this.”

Yang Rong’s pause is subtle. The colonel doesn’t retract from holding his hands, nor from tracing circles on his marked naked. However, there is silence, and then there is Yang Rong’s expression – pensive. When he speaks, every syllable is weighty. O1Vuaz

“If you do not wish to be confined here,” his smile, too, bears more resignation, “then it is alright to leave.”

Noah’s response is quite unexpected – a slow curl of his lips, a soft chuckle that is still strung from afterglow. He reaches forward and tugs on a mop of raven-black hair. Though if not for the waver in his beastly eyes, if not for the small tinge of sorrow (very well hidden, or so he believes), then Noah can hide his insecurities more properly.

“That’s not it, Yang Rong,” he says. “…It is only that I am not used to having someone by my side.”

Noah looks at the colonel, measures his frame from top to down, lingers on the scratches, cuts, and decades-old scars. White bandages are wrapped haphazardly around his torso, stopping just short of his collarbones. The bites have healed to off-colored bruises. Noah leans forward and bites at it once more. G0zf3s

Yang Rong remains rooted in position, allowing Noah to leave his marks. A trail of pink is left on collarbones up to the prominent lines of his neck. There is more pink on the tips of the colonel’s ears when Noah is finally satisfied. Yang Rong’s uncharacteristically flustered expression is quite pleasing to see – Noah would have to admit – and it is with the slightest bit of tease that Noah kisses him, slides in a tongue just out of willfulness.

When Noah retracts, Yang Rong is still having an out-of-body experience.

“Hmm?” Noah murmurs, positively coyly. “What are you thinking of, Yang Rong, to be looking at me so closely like this?”

The response comes after ten seconds. Yang Rong’s eyes are slightly covered by the shadows of black hair. Yang Rong’s body is accented in faint lamp glow. AYSEwv

“…Sorry, Noah.” With gentle, fluid movements, the colonel hoists Noah into his arms. Yang Rong’s words are muted into a soft whisper by his ears, “I’ve lied. Even if you try to leave, I will not let you go.”

His own response comes after ten seconds more. Noah’s eyelashes are downcast, tracing the same copper shadows down his cheeks. Noah’s body is also accented by lamplight – fortunate that he no longer looks eerily, pasty pale.

“Where would I go, Yang Rong?” He matches the soft volume in kind.

Yang Rong studies him for a while without responding – nothing is ever hidden in his perception. Noah coughs lightly, his cheeks taking on a familiar shade of rose. The slightest tinge of hesitance, of desperation, is replaced by a bubbling emotion, and then a firmer resolve. He looks up and locks eye contact. k53Vqe

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask,” Noah says, biting his own lips.

“Hmm?” is Yang Rong’s quiet reply, the man staring at him, fully infatuated.

“Rong…” Noah trails off. But he continues more firmly, his words unwavering, “I like you, Yang Rong, so will you stay with me?”

Perhaps it is that Yang Rong’s expression is more tender, perhaps he is more agreeably handsome tonight… There’s a certain quality Noah has gotten accustomed to, and it shows when Yang Rong gives a dazzling smile. z07qGr

Whichever the case, Noah isn’t prepared for his pulse to skip in the most cliché of ways.

Yang Rong decides to steal a shameless kiss. Warm breaths entangle – soft hums and pleased croons. Yang Rong’s hand has dipped down to grope a sore place – and this quality of him is one that Noah has gotten accustomed to as well.

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Yang Rong says in that pleasing, low-sounding voice, “Alright, my little fox.”

author: please look forward to our next and final chapter, the epilogue 🙂 thank you for reading moon theory! there’ll be an additional author’s note after the ending, but for now, i just came to express my gratitude for your support! oxL1my

i’ve also started another novel, tracing lines on CG! i have mixed emotions ending moon theory, but i hope to create another journey.

and did you know that (gasp, early access) my friend val’s new novel, the villainous mage king has no shame, is also recently released on CG~? val is a super hardworking, very skilled writer (and artist!!) so please show her some support! there are also really nice illustrations she worked hard on, previewed in her chapters ✿