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Lu Guang is using the couch in the sunroom to its fullest. He’s spread out on it comfortably, head propped on the armrest, one leg thrown over the back of it, fully immersed in his book. The studio is closed for the day, the evening sun is painting the room gorgeously golden, and Cheng Xiaoshi has gone upstairs for a shower. Lu Guang has had a half an hour of complete peace and quiet, and for the first time in days, he feels relaxed.
Hearing bare feet begin to make their way down the stairs makes him want to heave a loud sigh at the interruption of his alone time, but he keeps it in for the sake of politeness. Lowering his book, he shifts his gaze towards where his roommate is bound to appear any second now.
The loud, sing-songy “Guangguang!” Cheng Xiaoshi lets out as he slowly comes into view from the feet up is insufferable, but not surprising. What is surprising, though, is that he is not wearing a shirt – only sweatpants, pulled up so they just cover his knees. His hair is damp and sticking up every which way, and as he walks closer, Lu Guang can see rivulets of water still slowly meandering down his toned chest.
Immediately, he regrets moving his book even a little, wishes he could hide behind it and avoid the physical form of his roommate entirely, because looking at Cheng Xiaoshi like that is … a lot. Lu Guang has been doing so well, keeping a tight lid on the way his feelings for his partner have shifted from strictly platonic to curious to definitely attracted over time, but with so much of him on display like this, he needs to hold onto his book a little tighter.
“What?” he asks, a little sharper than he intended, thrown off by what he’s trying not to look at, but Cheng Xiaoshi appears to not detect a single hint of his sudden moodiness.
“We need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. We’re running low on eggs,” he says, all business, with only the faintest glint of amusement at something he sees on Lu Guang’s face.
Lu Guang might murder him.
“ That is what you came down here to say, half-naked?” asks, one eyebrow raised. “You didn’t even have time to put a shirt on, first?”
“I would’ve forgotten!” is Cheng Xiaoshi’s excuse, and it’s valid – thoughts seem to rush out of his head as quickly as they appear, sometimes – but still. He’s shirtless.
“Fine. Eggs. I’ll put it on the list. Now, please , go get dressed,” Lu Guang says, shoos him away.
“Okay, you prude,” Cheng Xiaoshi laughs and turns away, stretching his shoulders as he goes. Lu Guang hides his entire face into his book.
“I’m not a prude,” he grumbles. If only that were the problem .
***
“Lu Guang, I need you here for a sec,” a muffled voice calls out from the darkroom. The sudden noise, the first in a good twenty minutes, startles Lu Guang a little. Cheng Xiaoshi has been in there all afternoon, slightly overworking himself with the sudden influx of regular, non-dive-related customers, and Lu Guang has been considering forcefully yanking him out of there anyway. He’s mildly concerned for his health at this point. So, he puts down the book he’s been immersed in and steps to the door of the darkroom.
“Am I good to come in?” he asks, fingers settling into the inset handle.
“Yeah, everything’s covered up,” Cheng Xiaoshi replies. Lu Guang pushes the door open, gets hit with a heavy wave of warmth and an almost tangible cloud of smelly chemicals. His eyes find his partner in the dimly lit room and he promptly freezes.
So, Cheng Xiaoshi had fucking lied. Not everything is covered up.
He is standing by the table lining the back wall, hair mussed, mask covering his nose and mouth, rubber gloves neatly on, but his dark grey henley is all rucked up under his armpits, just barely covering his pecs, leaving his abs fully on display. The sliver of light from the doorway hits him just right, as if it’s a spotlight aimed right at him, and Lu Guang wants to scream at the immediate swirl of attraction kicking into gear in his stomach.
“Can you help me take this off?” Cheng Xiaoshi asks, oblivious. “It’s hot as balls in here and I can’t be bothered to take the gloves off, but they’re all icky, so I can’t touch the shirt.”
Lu Guang swallows hard and stares at him.
“You called me in here so I could undress you?” he clarifies, eyebrows raised so high that his facial muscles strain a little.
“Well, if you put it like that,” Cheng Xiaoshi replies, expression turning sly and flirtatious. Lu Guang rolls his eyes.
“Well, too bad, I’m not gonna do that,” Lu Guang says, steps closer. “You’re gonna bleach your nipples off.” He ignores the way Cheng Xiaoshi poorly hides a smirk at that. “You’ve been in here forever, wrap up for today. I can’t believe you haven’t complained about hunger yet.”
Cheng Xiaoshi thinks for a moment.
“Well, now that you mention it,” he says, eyes sort of glazing over at the possible dinner options, and sighs.
“Fine, give me ten minutes, I’ll finish up,” he finally says. “Can you pull the shirt down, then?”
Lu Guang hesitates, but finally complies. He hopes the poor light conditions hide his blush as he grabs the hem of Cheng Xiaoshi’s henley and tugs it down. His knuckles brush against Cheng Xiaoshi’s sides and he feels a little crazy at how his best friend’s muscles tense under his fingers at the touch.
“Thank you for your concern for my nipples,” Cheng Xiaoshi says when it’s done, and Lu Guang digs his fingers into his side for good measure. The yelp he gets as a response grounds him a little.
“ One of us has to think of health and safety,” he grumbles, stepping back towards the door, fully aware that he was thinking about neither health nor safety – only about how to preserve the last sad dregs of his sanity.
“That’s exactly why I keep you around,” Cheng Xiaoshi replies and makes a kissy face at him. Lu Guang shuts the door with a little too much force.
A part of him wants to sink down against it and hide his face into his hands in pure mortification. Another part wants to lock up ten minutes early and take some time to himself in the bathroom, the image of Cheng Xiaoshi messy and half-naked stuck behind his eyelids.
Lu Guang needs a fucking break.
***
He doesn’t get one, and it’s becoming a bit of a problem.
Lu Guang just wanted to go over their newest case, discuss some details with Cheng Xiaoshi, put a plan in place for tomorrow. If he’d known Cheng Xiaoshi wanted to have this meeting shirtless, he would have postponed it indefinitely.
“Why are you half-naked again?” he’d asked when his best friend had plopped down on the couch next to him all loose-limbed, getting honestly overly comfortable.
“It’s so hot, dude. Why aren’t you half-naked?” Cheng Xiaoshi had retorted. Lu Guang hadn’t dignified that with a response – it wasn’t even that hot, a T-shirt was perfectly fine – and had focused his efforts on trying to ignore it, but it was fucking difficult . Cheng Xiaoshi was right there .
So here they are now, arms pressed together from shoulder to elbow, legs from mid-thigh to knee, and Lu Guang absolutely cannot handle it. His brain keeps switching to fuzzy static, his thoughts trailing off before he can get them out, and he does feel warm now, with so many contact points between them. The bare skin of their arms is touching from where Lu Guang’s sleeve ends, and the fact that the folder with the photos is in Lu Guang’s lap is fully strategical at this point, because his jeans feel a little or maybe a lot constricting. It’s embarrassing, is what it is, getting so worked up over the sight of a well-toned torso, but he can’t help it. Not when said well-toned torso is attached to the most lovable person he knows (even if he is also the most frustrating).
“What were you saying?” Cheng Xiaoshi asks, leans in closer somehow, and Lu Guang feels himself flush.
“Cheng Xiaoshi,” he protests, hates how it sounds a little strangled.
“What?” Cheng Xiaoshi asks, all big puppy eyes and pure innocence, and Lu Guang wishes he was strong enough to tackle the fucker.
“I can’t focus when you’re constantly shirtless,” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was trying to make it sound like an admonishment, but he is fully aware of how it really comes across – needy, obsessed, desperate – and the worst part is that he is all of those things.
“Oh, is that so?” Cheng Xiaoshi asks, voice dripping with honey, teasing and flirtatious, and Lu Guang is about to explode.
“ Yes ,” he emphasises, almost normal but not. He knows he’s blushing. “ Please put a shirt on. We need to work. Right now and in general.” His throat feels dry.
“Alright. But only because you asked so nicely, Guangguang,” Cheng Xiaoshi replies and gets up, ruffles his hair before Lu Guang can push his hand away. “I’ll mind my manners.”
***
He does nothing of the sort. If anything, it gets worse.
Lu Guang probably sees him shirtless every single day at this point, and it feels like a war of attrition. He’ll find any excuse – heat, exercise, showers, cooking (“it’s a bright white shirt, I don’t want to ruin it,” he complains, brushes off all suggestions of wearing literally any other shirt), you name it. If he appeared in the studio to welcome clients topless, Lu Guang would be absolutely mortified, but honestly unsurprised. The assault is so constant that the heat in his stomach no longer has time to cool back down to a simmer; it just keeps climbing and climbing with every glimpse Lu Guang gets of Cheng Xiaoshi’s bare chest and stomach.
It’s really no wonder that it boils over at one point.
He chooses to blame his lapse in self-control entirely on Cheng Xiaoshi – even though he’s the one that had a very explicit completely shameless dream about his roommate the night before, said roommate is the one that planted the idea in his head to begin with. So, he’s spent the day in a haze of mild to spicy sexual frustration and it’s driving him insane.
The final straw is Cheng Xiaoshi choosing to do topless yoga in their bedroom when Lu Guang is folding laundry.
He tries his absolute best. He focuses on smoothing the fabric under his fingers, dedicates an unnecessary amount of attention to matching their socks up correctly, pretends he’s not paying attention to the way the muscles in Cheng Xiaoshi’s arms and torso move. He feels insane, looking at his roommate’s trapezii shifting under his skin, observing the slight shake in his arms when he holds himself up. He tries, he sincerely tries.
But in the end, he is merely a human – a frustrated, pent-up one at that – and when Cheng Xiaoshi gets up, reaches his arms above his head, eyes closed, muscles tensed, Lu Guang finally breaks.
This is a horrible idea, but the part of his brain that makes smart decisions and exercises self-control is currently flooded beyond recovery.
He drops the polo shirt he’s in the midst of folding, takes three strides towards his best friend, and hooks a hand around his neck to pull him in for a kiss, desperate and hard.
There’s a frozen moment of nothingness before one of Cheng Xiaoshi’s hands slides into the hair on the back of his head, the other coming to rest on his hip, warm and tethering. With his contribution, the kiss turns softer and hotter at the same time, and Lu Guang feels a little bit like his insides have turned into a merry-go-round. His knees feel weak, so he holds on to Cheng Xiaoshi tighter, kisses him deeper, doesn’t even feel shame when a whimper escapes from his throat – mainly thanks to the happy hum he earns as a response.
“Fuck, finally,” Cheng Xiaoshi says when they break apart, lips brushing against his. “I feel like I’ve been seducing you for years .”
Lu Guang pulls another couple inches back. “Are you serious?” he asks, incredulous. “ Seducing me?” He feels a little dizzy, probably for several reasons.
“ Yes !” Cheng Xiaoshi replies. “I’m not a complete degenerate. I wasn’t ripping my shirts off just for the fun of it. I wanted you to come to me like this.” The way he says it is teasing, but so incredibly affectionate, laden with the weight of arousal. Lu Guang should get a little mad or annoyed at it, maybe, feel betrayed by the scheming or bad for looking like an idiot and keeping Cheng Xiaoshi waiting, but he’s completely overwhelmed with how much he needs right now.
“You are fucking insufferable,” he whispers. “I want to get you off now.”
Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes turn dark at the words.
“Please,” he says quietly, then kisses Lu Guang again. He takes a step back towards his bed and the hand he has on Lu Guang’s hip finds its way upwards, under his shirt.
“Can we fit in there?” Lu Guang asks between kisses, redirects his attention to Cheng Xiaoshi’s neck to suck a hickey onto it. He’s seen so much of his roommate’s exposed skin recently, and now that he has the chance, he can’t wait to mark it all up. Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest, even tilts his head to give him better access.
“We have to, unless you’re a closet exhibitionist and want to fuck me in the sunroom,” Cheng Xiaoshi replies, breathless, and Lu Guang flushes. He wants to argue – even if there are a lot of windows, who would they be exhibiting themselves to?! – but his brain isn’t working, keeps skipping back to the way Cheng Xiaoshi said “fuck me”. It drives him crazy and scares him in equal measure. So he says nothing, just follows Cheng Xiaoshi, keeps kissing him, reaches down at his own jeans to pop open the button.
They land on the bottom bunk with a lack of grace that makes the whole structure creak and knocks the air out of both of their lungs, but they barely stop to get settled. Cheng Xiaoshi tugs Lu Guang’s oversized T-shirt over his head, throws it somewhere off the bed. Lu Guang barely notices it – he is currently too occupied with touching and kissing and biting. He feels like he might be too eager, but Cheng Xiaoshi does nothing that would suggest he agrees – he seems to match Lu Guang’s energy perfectly. They make out for what feels like a very long time, and it leaves Lu Guang’s lips buzzing. He hovers over Cheng Xiaoshi, alternates between kissing him and leaving love bites on his neck and chest, and all the while, they slowly grind against each other slowly, in a way that leaves Lu Guang desperate for more. He’s hard, and he can tell that Cheng Xiaoshi is, too, and it feels unreal.
“Have you done this before?” Cheng Xiaoshi asks him after a long while, looks at him like he’s a marvel, and Lu Guang shakes his head, feeling shy even though he knows very well that Cheng Xiaoshi hasn’t had a partner in a very long time, either. No one since they’d met. Cheng Xiaoshi runs a finger across his cheek, as if to encourage him, and the gentleness makes Lu Guang a little emotional despite how desperately aroused he is.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry. Me neither, not with other people. We’ll figure it out,” Cheng Xiaoshi whispers, tugs at Lu Guang’s jeans. It takes some careful coordinating, but they get them off without Lu Guang toppling over, and Lu Guang has no time to feel awkward about the gymnastics, because as soon as the jeans are discarded, Cheng Xiaoshi’s fingers dive under the waistband of his underwear, close around his cock.
Lu Guang moans louder than he intended to, hides his face against Cheng Xiaoshi’s neck. He hears a quiet chuckle in response, and Cheng Xiaoshi tugs his head upward.
“Come on, look at me. Wanna see you,” he whispers, and Lu Guang obeys.
“I’m not gonna … I feel like I’m so close already,” he whispers.
“That’s okay, I just wanted to feel you, finally. I couldn’t wait. I’ve been … hoping,” Cheng Xiaoshi replies, as if that’s not something ridiculously vulnerable to say, and retracts his hand. It feels like a loss and a relief at once.
“I’m gonna need some … preparation, if you want to. Um. Fuck me,” Cheng Xiaoshi says, pressing kisses against Lu Guang’s cheek. “But I am completely fine with handjobs for now, fuck, I’m close too, and this is our first time.” The way he says it implies a second time, and probably other times beyond that, and Lu Guang feels wild at the mere thought.
“I don’t think I have the patience or the stamina for anything beyond hands right now,” he whispers honestly, leaving out the part where the idea of going all the way in the fading daylight makes his stomach turn with anxiety. Cheng Xiaoshi laughs again and guides Lu Guang’s hand to his waistband. Lu Guang slowly begins do slide his joggers downward, along with his underwear. “As long as the, uh, rest of it remains on the table,” he clarifies, just in case. Cheng Xiaoshi’s face softens again at the hopeful tone in his voice, and he pulls Lu Guang upward for a kiss. His joggers and boxers stay tangled around his upper thighs for a moment.
“Now that we’re finally doing this, you’re gonna have to smack me with a newspaper to keep me away from you. We can do the rest of it on the goddamn table if you want,” he admits when they part, and it’s a joke, but Lu Guang can sense the truth behind it.
“Fuck, I like you so much,” he whispers, feverish, and Cheng Xiaoshi whines.
“Touch me,” he orders, and Lu Guang kisses him one more time before he pulls his joggers off properly, hooking his fingers into the waistband of his boxers to take them off at the same time. Cheng Xiaoshi lies before him, more naked than Lu Guang has ever willingly seen, ever watched before, hard – for him – and he feels dizzy. In a rush of courage, he yanks his own boxer briefs downward, too, wrestles himself free of them a little clumsily, and kisses Cheng Xiaoshi again, his shaky fingers finding their destination almost on instinct. It takes a few seconds for Cheng Xiaoshi to reciprocate, but Lu Guang doesn’t mind – he pulls back and gets to witness the full glory of Cheng Xiaoshi’s reaction in the meantime: the loud gasp, the tightly shut eyes, the way his whole body tenses up at the contact. There are some semi-embarrassing words on the tip of his tongue, something big and devoted and maybe more than the situation warrants, but it melts into a loud moan and leaves his brain completely when Cheng Xiaoshi does reciprocate.
It takes no more than three strokes to feel like this might be too much for him to handle. It’s everything and everywhere and Lu Guang thinks that Cheng Xiaoshi’s fingers wrapped around his cock might genuinely end him. He’s not built for this, for being touched like this, looked at like this, held like this. It’s filthy, the way Cheng Xiaoshi’s hand moves on his cock, measured and teasing and dizzying, the way Lu Guang is allowed to touch, to kiss, to claim, and yet, the tenderness permeating every movement is so palpable Lu Guang feels weak with it. He lets his forehead rest against Cheng Xiaoshi’s chest, breathing heavily, and Cheng Xiaoshi’s other hand finds its way back into his hair.
“I’m not gonna last long,” Lu Guang whispers, a little ashamed, gently thrusting into Cheng Xiaoshi’s grip.
“Don’t worry. Me neither,” a breathless reply comes a few seconds later, and the knowledge that he’s the one making Cheng Xiaoshi gasp like that makes Lu Guang feel boundless. He hums, pleased, and lifts his head slightly to gently bite into the skin just beneath Cheng Xiaoshi’s collarbone, begin to suck yet another hickey onto it. Cheng Xiaoshi gasps, pulls on Lu Guang’s hair just a little, and Lu Guang might adore that tiny bit of pain.
When he’s happy with the mark he’s brought into bloom on Cheng Xiaoshi’s skin, he lifts his head again, and his whole body feels a wave of warmth at the sight that greets him. He gets to see Cheng Xiaoshi’s black hair splayed across the grey-striped pillowcase, his cheeks bright with a precious pink blush that spills all the down his neck, his eyes a little glossed over with a haze of arousal, the zig-zagging trail of hickeys he’s left on his body, the way the muscles in his upper arm move in a delicious rhythm, and it feels like an undeserved privilege. He doesn’t dare to look downward, thinks he would lose control at the sight of his cock in his best friend’s hand, but he has plenty to look at already.
“You’re so gorgeous,” he can’t help but say, and Cheng Xiaoshi whines at it, his eyes squeezing shut, the blush turning another shade darker. He opens his mouth to respond, but nothing but loud gasps come out. He seems completely lost in it, and Lu Guang adores him so much it makes him ache.
Cheng Xiaoshi pulls him closer for another kiss, and he goes in for it like it’s a lifeline. Cheng Xiaoshi feels feverishly hot against him, bites on his lower lip just so, picks up the pace he has going on Lu Guang’s cock. It makes his stomach clench, brings into sharp focus how close to the edge he is. The tumble feels unavoidable now – he doesn’t have any willpower left in him to hold it back.
“Please,” Lu Guang groans without deciding to, and it sounds primal over the rushing in his ears. He tries to match Cheng Xiaoshi’s pace, give it to him as good as he’s getting, but everything in his head feels cushioned with bliss, so he might be faltering just a little.
“I’ve got you,” Cheng Xiaoshi whispers, and it feels like a flame licking his insides. Lu Guang realises he’s squeezed his eyes shut against the incoming tidal wave, forces them open. He wants to see Cheng Xiaoshi as he comes. His best friend’s eyes are on him, unwavering, and Lu Guang sees the fire raging inside of him reflected perfectly in his irises. Cheng Xiaoshi is just as gone for it as he is, and that’s all he needs to know before he allows himself to dive off the cliff’s edge.
The loud moan that rips its way out of his throat as he comes should probably hurt, but Lu Guang can’t feel anything. Every last cell of him is entirely consumed in the peak of it, rendered useless to the outside world. There’s only him and Cheng Xiaoshi and a moment suspended for what feels like hours as he comes undone. His eyes fall shut again, but the image of Cheng Xiaoshi, wrecked and flushed and adoring, remains in his mind’s eye. He faintly hears Cheng Xiaoshi’s low voice, a little husky and torturously low, but he can’t make out the words – his brain is only slowly starting to come back online.
When he opens his eyes again, mostly feeling like he’s been put back together, Cheng Xiaoshi is looking at him, still gorgeously blushing, still surprisingly tender, and still hard in his hand, which has been entirely useless for probably an embarrassingly long time. Lu Guang kisses him quickly, tries to make it an apology and a restart all at once, begins to move his hand again, and Cheng Xiaoshi quietly moans at it. A thought appears in Lu Guang’s head then, something shameless and filthy, and settles right in, refuses to leave. Lu Guang takes a few moments to turn it around in his head, and suddenly aches with need.
So, he breaks the kiss, runs the knuckles of his free hand down Cheng Xiaoshi’s cheek, and his lips begin a slow, teasing journey downward. They stop at Cheng Xiaoshi’s jawline, his collarbone, his chest. Lu Guang allows himself a moment to swirl his tongue around a nipple and grins at the punched-out noise that escapes Cheng Xiaoshi’s mouth at that. He continues down his ribcage, the soft but firm skin of his stomach, and revels in the way Cheng Xiaoshi’s hand doesn’t leave the nape of his neck, just travels downward with him. He chances a look upward and smiles again at the look in Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes – it’s equal parts complete awe and arousal so strong it almost looks like pain. Cheng Xiaoshi’s lower lip is caught between his teeth, and the contact point is pale with the press of them.
One, two, three more kisses down the slightly uneven trail of hair below Cheng Xiaoshi’s navel, a deep breath in, and then, Lu Guang moves his hand to the base of Cheng Xiaoshi’s cock, takes the rest of it into his mouth. There’s a quick tinge of uncertainty, but then Cheng Xiaoshi grips his hair a little tighter, his breaths cutting off entirely for a couple of seconds. Lu Guang swallows him down as far as he comfortably can, then comes back up, lets his tongue tentatively swirl around the tip. Cheng Xiaoshi groans, stares at him, eyes glassy and wild, so close to the edge, and fuck, Lu Guang loves him.
He loves him.
He squeezes his eyes tightly shut at the inner admission, swallows Cheng Xiaoshi’s cock deeper again as if to tamp the words in his throat back down, presses the fingers of his other hand into Cheng Xiaoshi’s thigh. He finds a rhythm, a pattern that keeps Cheng Xiaoshi gasping and tugging his hair just so, and Lu Guang might want to keep doing this forever. Seeing Cheng Xiaoshi feel so incredible makes him feel happy, too. Accomplished.
He has settled into it, has just found his footing with this, when suddenly, the fingers in his hair tighten harder than before, pull his mouth off his best friend’s cock. There’s a brief moment of anxiety, fear that he did something wrong, but then, Cheng Xiaoshi comes with a groan loud enough that Lu Guang worries for his vocal cords, too. The first spurt of cum splatters across Lu Guang’s cheek, but he’s too sex-dazed to figure out if he finds it gross or not – his attention is entirely on the way Cheng Xiaoshi falls apart, the muscles in his stomach clenching, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, his breaths so heavy that half of them turn into moans. He doesn’t take his hand off of Cheng Xiaoshi’s cock, strokes him through it until Cheng Xiaoshi can move enough to place his hand on his wrist, tug him back upwards.
They look at each other for a second while Cheng Xiaoshi gathers his breath, and finally, he lets Lu Guang’s hair go to slide a thumb carefully across his cheek, clean him up.
“Sorry about that,” he says as he wipes the thumb into his sheets, still breathless, and Lu Guang lets himself fall down next to him, leans his head on Cheng Xiaoshi’s shoulder.
“I can’t believe that’s the first thing to say to me after all of that ,” he replies, nudges Cheng Xiaoshi a little. Cheng Xiaoshi chuckles, low and wrecked, and Lu Guang is in love with the sound.
“What would you rather have me say, then?”
The three words almost slip out. His mouth already opens to form the first letter, but in the end, he decides against it, mushes his face against Cheng Xiaoshi’s skin.
“Anything but an apology, please ,” he opts for, finally, muffled into the hollow of Cheng Xiaoshi’s collarbone. Cheng Xiaoshi laughs again, gravelly and sated.
“Alright. No apologies, not even for getting cum on your pretty face,” he replies, and Lu Guang scrunches his nose at it. “How about … I’m so glad we did this. Let’s do it again soon.” It’s hopelessly soft, not a hint of teasing in it anymore. Lu Guang whines with affection. He’s tired, can feel sleep encroaching on him, but finds just enough strength to press his lips against Cheng Xiaoshi’s neck.
“Yes,” he mumbles, hopes it was clear enough for Cheng Xiaoshi to understand. Cheng Xiaoshi squeezes him closer, so it might have been.
***
He can’t tell how much time has passed when they wake up. He’s not even sure who stirs fist, just that at some point, the tiredness recedes slowly, leaves them lying in the too-small bed, staring at each other with sugar-sweet bliss in the last light of the dusk. It settles something in Lu Guang, to see that Cheng Xiaoshi still looks at him like that.
“I’m hungry, let’s make dinner,” Cheng Xiaoshi finally complains, puts one foot on the floor. Lu Guang wants to whine, wants to never ever leave this bed, wants to look at Cheng Xiaoshi’s bare, hickey-littered chest some more, but he’s starving, too.
“Fine,” he grumbles, and Cheng Xiaoshi leans closer to press a kiss into his hair before standing up. He stretches again, groans in a way that Lu Guang knows is intentionally teasing, meant just for him, and he takes it in happily.
When Cheng Xiaoshi picks his oversized shirt up off the ground instead of his own, pulls it on while maintaining eye contact, smirks just so, Lu Guang needs to swallow hard.
“Somehow, that’s worse than you being shirtless,” he says weakly, and Cheng Xiaoshi laughs.
“I know,” he says smugly, leans down to peck Lu Guang on the lips twice. “Come on. You can kiss me while I cook.”
That’s an offer Lu Guang can’t refuse.