Moon Theory (ABO)Ch84 - perhaps, i love you

“Put this on.”

Yang Rong hands him a shirt that is twice his size. A familiar tee, mass-manufactured and simple, just like every other article of clothing the soldier wears. Straight out of a military wardrobe, plain and unfortunately foul-smelling. It isn’t so much foul as it is distasteful – the shirt is likely unwashed, judging from the very suspicious, colorless stain by the hem. The white color has turned pale yellow, uncertain if from chlorine bleach or from sweat. The acrid air inside the vehicle does little to mask the smell of it. VLaM13

Noah stares at it. His face contorts a little.

“You’ve worn this shirt two nights ago…?” Noah says with a small frown. He looks again at the suspicious stain and continues, “Have you washed it after—”

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“—Two nights ago!” The colonel suddenly erupts into a spiel, complete with hand gesticulations and everything. He waves the shirt by Noah’s face and rambles heatedly, “I didn’t wear this two nights ago! What are you thinking about?! It was another shirt that got dirtied, alright?! My military uniform – which by the way, was made of extremely expensive materials, stain-resistant and spill-repellant – was long ripped apart by you! And do you know how long Rong-ge spent in the shower room jac—cleaning up?! I’ll have you know, Noah, that I spent an hour scrubbing bodily fluids off my pants and if you dare complain again, I will spank you five times!”

Yang Rong sits in the car seat across from his. Just his alpha presence is distracting enough, but the colonel is currently half-naked with a wet towel draped over his shoulder. White bandages are loosely wrapped around his torso, not hiding any of his rippling muscles and overly sculpted physique. The colonel had only finished wiping off most of the grime on his body, and water is still dripping downward. QsBPVj

The only decency is that, at the very least, he is wearing pants. Noah had long adjusted to the dimness inside the vehicle. In respite, he catches glimpses of Yang Rong’s recent wounds – most of them clot, a few of them raw and blistered. The damage is worse on his left arm, and Noah is suddenly reminded of two nights prior. He was too dazed to notice it before, but the colonel is in a really unfortunate state.

Noah takes the shirt from him.

“Mn… my memory is hazy,” Noah says softly. “I’m sorry.”

The words seem to quell Yang Rong immediately. The man lets out a light cough.

“…I was only exaggerating,” he says coaxingly. “My shirt wasn’t ripped apart by you, little kitten. It isn’t your fault you went into heat either… Rong-ge will always clean up afterward… In fact, it’s Rong-ge’s fault for escalating it… Don’t look so sad, little kitten. We’ll forget anything happened, alright?”

Yang Rong reaches for a duffle bag underneath his seat. He unzips it and pulls out another shirt – this one stainless (at first glance, though any strange stains wouldn’t be visible on the pitch-black fabric anyway). “Here, little fox, wear this one instead. This is my unworn shirt—worn once, I’ll admit. However, your Rong-ge has only recently showered two days ago—yes, yes, kitten, I am aware your standards are two showers a day, but I haven’t much of a choice, alright? I admit Rong-ge doesn’t smell like vanilla and roses, but I’ve never had complaints about my body odor—”

“Yang Rong—”

“Yes, kitten, there may be a small stain on the sleeve, but it isn’t anything strange. No strange substances, no semen, no other bodily fluids—it is only a bit of alcohol I’d spilled. I admit I wasn’t entirely sober last night but if I were any more clearheaded, I was afraid that my thoughts would go southward and—” kUJ6ie

Noah leans forward and cups his palm on Yang Rong’s mouth, effectively and finally shutting the man up. In the cramped space of the vehicle, the two are mere inches apart, their bodies radiating warmth. While Noah is still fighting off post-heat fever, Yang Rong is roused abnormally, the tips of his ears tinged pink and his cheeks a little warmer to the touch. When Noah speaks, his voice travels sotto voce, melodiously by the colonel’s ears.

“Yang Rong,” he says, “it is alright.”

Noah retracts his hand and then Yang Rong is left speechless, rooted in the seat. Noah takes the black shirt from him, shrugs it on and lightly repositions the collar. The collar dips down loosely regardless, revealing rosy patches of skin, marred hickeys from a wrung-out night.

Yang Rong asks, very pensively, “…How do you feel?” taWdo9

Noah answers, “Mn. It is alright.”

Unexpectedly, Noah settles himself on the seat next to Yang Rong. On the floormat is a medical kit placed alongside three rifles, a pistol, and a dagger (now wiped spotless). Noah ignores the weaponry (he takes a few glances at the pistol, however) and takes the kit. Yang Rong is still frozen stiff until Noah taps him lightly on the shoulder, beckoning for him to turn.

“I will tend to your wounds,” Noah says quietly. “The injuries are deep.”

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.

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“When were you shot…?” Noah asks with a furrow on his brow.

Upon closer examination, the surrounding skin and tissues around the arm are intact – not perfectly, but definitely not as damaged as they should be. Very different from the usual contact wounds caused by a rifle, and Noah’s seen plenty of military incendiary bullets. He lightly strokes the skin around it. The texture is normal, not hard and no carapace-like covering.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Perhaps he’d been staring for too long, for Yang Rong gives a light chuckle and murmurs, “Noah, will you continue to touch me, or will you tend to my wounds?”

The voice travels unexpectedly close to his ears and Noah jolts slightly. Post-heat, some of his senses are incredibly keen – his heteroclite vision is compromised, but his hearing and sense of smell are magnified tenfold. Yang Rong, alpha, has an innate quality to his voice, one that Noah physiologically preens for. A shudder hits down his spine and he refrains from following his instinct. niXwbN

He distracts himself by grabbing an alcohol pad and daubing at Yang Rong’s deltoid. “…Your entire arm is damaged,” he says (his syllables are shaky, but neither of them addresses this). “It would be good to stitch it.”

Yang Rong only hums in response.

Noah does get to stitching it – very neatly and exceptionally skillfully, he weaves a needle in and out. He does it with finesse and it’s quite easy to tell how practiced he is.

“The suturing is clean,” Yang Rong comments halfway through. l2WMbi

“Mn,” Noah replies quietly. “I’ve done this often.”

The conversation is incredibly odd – awkward, even, and the two of them hardly have awkward conversations. The vehicle is filled with unresolved tension, neither of the men breaking silence. Noah, finished with suturing, has moved to clean Yang Rong’s chest injury. They’re even closer than they were before, their breaths mixing hotly, their residue heat completely shared.

Yang Rong voices out suddenly, “Are you experiencing side effects?”

Noah looks up – an action that leaves their faces but a hairbreadth away from touching. “…Side effects?” WgC2yu

“You are clinging onto me again, little fox,” Yang Rong points out gently – Noah hadn’t known either, that his left hand was balled into a fist on the colonel’s uninjured shoulder. “And it is not something you often do when aware. I’ve heard that omegas experience more intense symptoms after a sporadic heat. Your lasting fever, bouts of nausea, physiological needs, psychological needs – Noah, perhaps you need to rest for a while longer.”

Noah says, “…I am not yet tired.”

“Rong-ge will make sure to be by your side this time,” the colonel tells him softly. “Go to sleep, hm? Tomorrow dusk, we will continue driving to the city. Only a day more and I’ll get you there safely.”

“Where will you go?” BEGsrD

“I will go elsewhere, I suppose. There may be unresolved matters to take care of. Military chores, none of which will be of interest to you, little kitten.”

“…” The expression on Noah’s face is hidden by his bangs. “I see.”

Yang Rong frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“Yang Rong,” Noah says when he looks up again, his eyes are undecipherable. Pale yellow reflects off the tinted windows, and pale blue is obscured in twilight, hazed and with a hint of apprehension. His tone, too, is uncanny. “If I asked you to stay with me, would you?” BP4rIJ

“…” The colonel breathes out lowly. “Are you aware of what you’re saying? Little kitten, I may have agreed if you were in a lucid state of mind.”

“And if I told you I like you?” Noah says – monotonously, but his breaths get raspier, his words coming out quicker the harder he grips onto the colonel’s shoulder. His knuckles have turned white now. “Perhaps ‘I love you,’ Colonel Yang, so would you stay with—”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Just then, his vision flips entirely.

He is thrown roughly against the seat, his back colliding against dense suede, his entire figure pinned down. The colonel gives him zero time to brace and if not for the palm supporting the back of his head, he would’ve no doubt suffered a concussion. Noah cannot utter another word before he’s slammed against the corner of the passenger seats, the vehicle shaking in collateral. zvdGhY

Yang Rong handles him easily. Those calloused, battle-hardened hands grip his wrists to the brink of dislocation – and Yang Rong is muscle-packed with strength, a whole battalion ahead in combat experience, able to subdue with crisp movements. Noah is slender limbs and quick reflexes but Yang Rong is unyielding with his advances.

Domineeringly, the colonel hovers over him, cutting off any escape route. Noah’s wrist is grabbed firmly, hard enough to leave white marks and the position is one hundred percent oppressing.

There is zero warmth here – not even when their bodies are clearly touching, when the colonel’s bare torso is sheened slightly of sweat and water, trailing down to his scars. Some open injuries are blotted in red, dampened from antiseptic.

All unsaid exclamations are turned into low gasps when Noah’s wrists are taken overhead, locked in an uncomfortable corner of the vehicle. His eyes are scrunched slightly in pain – then there is surprise, but more so apprehension when he regains clarity. nrzef7

Colonel Yang gives him the most chilling look he’d ever seen. Zero whimsicality. His green eyes are darkened, brimmed with a sliver of red, nearly aglow in the dark. He stares at Noah dangerously – there is, though, a tiny crack in his façade. When he leans lower, their lips are just about brushing.

“Such pretty words, Noah,” the colonel murmurs, his breaths ghosting across sensitive skin. Yang Rong speaks lowly, calculatingly. “Yet, I am not inclined to believe you one bit. Should I kiss you?”

Firm fingers hold him down and Noah struggles underneath – there isn’t much space, however, and then he feels a pair of lips pressing insistently against his. Alpha pheromones are emitted in intense waves, forcing him into submission. The air is bloodcurdling and the colonel even more so – purposefully asserting, he captures Noah and renders him immobile. Easily.

Noah lets out a soft whine, chokes out an exclamation – though, Yang Rong is not keen on hearing it. Oxzyg9

The kiss is not intended to be pleasurable – and it isn’t, because Yang Rong slides in deeply, bites his lower lip to the point of bleeding, swallows every strangled gasp. It gets increasingly painful when Noah’s shoulder blade hits a seatbelt buckle, the sharp metal stabbing him in less-than-pleasant places.

“—!” Another exclamation, and Yang Rong ignores this one too.

Whatever words he has on the tip of his tongue are muffled and the colonel is intent on holding him still. Yang Rong is letting out heavier gasps – unusual, really, for the man to be more desperate than he. He dives in aggressively, painfully and again, purposefully.

Then, a minute later, Noah becomes pliant. He doesn’t reject nor does he reciprocate – merely, he allows Yang Rong to have his way, parting his lips for easy access. While the colonel’s eyes are closed, Noah’s own are half-lidded but fully cognizant. 1WdT9d

Seconds feel like minutes more when Yang Rong is unwilling to let him go. The colonel has one hand on his jaw and the other still on his wrists. Though now, his actions have become increasingly hesitant. His fingers are slightly quivering.

Noah inhales softly. The air has become less stifling.

The kiss—that was moreso a crash of their mouths—slows into subtlety. Noah shifts his body. Surprising he could move – unbeknownst when, the grip on his wrists had loosened into a gentle hold. Unbeknownst when, the pheromones have dulled to more bearable. Colonel Yang is still towering above, but the man now allows him space to escape. It’s a tacit beckon for him to go. Noah lightly nibbles on Yang Rong’s lip. A tacit reply in kind.

When they part, saliva trickles messily downward. Their lips are coated, and their cheeks are equally as flushed. Green eyes trace over Noah’s complexion and likewise, a pretty pair of heterochromatic eyes returns the scrutiny in full. GztJOh

A low sigh and some heavily pounding heartbeats – unsure if they come from Noah or Yang Rong. The colonel leans in once more and gently licks the blood off his lower lip. An apology. The action may be even considered tender.

The one who breaks silence is Yang Rong.

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“Noah,” he whispers, and his voice cracks a little bit. “Rong-ge bears all the qualities of the alphas you despise – controlling, possessive, dominant. Two decades of military training, fifteen years on the field, tens of thousands of men I’ve killed—I’ve lost count long ago. You understand I was raised by General Xie – cold and unemphatic, just as I am. In the loosest sense, I remind you of him and Noah, I am not blind to the way you look at me.”

Noah hums. bdhOmE

“You do despise me for entering your home,” Yang Rong says softly. “Your comfort zone, your family, destroyed by the military. I am involved by association, regardless if I had a part in it or not. And Noah, although I hesitated, I still may have killed. My title comes high in reverence as much as it does in infamy.”

“Mn.”

“You are right to be afraid of me. I once held you prisoner through no fault of your own, captured you against your will. And perhaps it is only that your appearance interested me that I hadn’t shipped you away to the Nexus. Now, two months later… little kitten, little fox, Noah or… Xie Xing, I am willing to let you go.”

The name rolls so foreign off his tongue – yet, there is so much intimacy. Yang Rong reaches toward him and brushes back a lock of damp hair. xMuvAC

“You are beautiful,” Yang Rong murmurs, pressing his lips on Noah’s forehead. “Independent and strong. There is no need for Rong-ge.” Another kiss – this one, a lot softer and with none of the aggressiveness he displayed prior. “But I am also selfish, Noah. The words you’ve said to me – I believe none of it but desperately, I hoped they were true. Perhaps… think about it some more, hm? Once you are more sober, Rong-ge would like to know how you feel.”

Yang Rong helps him to a sitting position. At the sincerity of the man’s gaze, Noah forgets the throbbing on his shoulder until Yang Rong places a kiss on there as well. Warm lips trace over every sore and every mark – the ones on his shoulders, his wrists, his collarbones, his decades-old faded scars. The actions are unspoken apologies.

“And regardless, I will still be willing to let you go,” Yang Rong whispers, finally looking him in the eye. “I will also tell you that I love you.”

Noah is compelled to answer, in the break of night, his tenor lowered to match. “…Okay, Yang Rong.” R7FTBj

Yang Rong’s lips curve into crescents. There is as much fondness as there is relief and then… some other quality as well. Akin to sadness but not quite. Complication.

“Good,” he whispers while ruffling Noah’s hair, watching as the strands fall wispily downward. “Get some sleep.”

“Mn.”

Flushed and fever-induced, Noah lowers his head onto Yang Rong’s chest. He may have grazed several of the more serious injuries on the colonel’s body, half-sterilized and haphazardly bandaged. Yang Rong doesn’t seem to mind whatsoever, allowing the younger man to cling onto him in silence. Together, they sink into the passenger seats. wLgTft

A few hours are left until dawn. Their eyes close and their breaths even out, but neither of them is asleep just yet.

“Noah,” Yang Rong murmurs in finality, some moments later. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”

Noah only nuzzles his chest softly in response – uncertain if forgiveness or dismissal.

Author: after months of crying, i have finally begun to write a new novel! i’ve published it on CG just today, so i’ll be happy if you take a look ✿✿ moon theory is coming to an end soooooon. i’m really sad to wrap up the ~adventure~ but also very happy that i can finally throw yang rong into the dumpster where he belongs -cough- fw RiN

but that aside, thank you for reading up until now! i appreciate your comments & support so much -sob sob- i likely wouldn’t be encouraged to finish the novel if not for them. writing into the void is always so demotivating ( Ĭ ^ Ĭ )

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