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This man has the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen.
Although Lahan had never previously considered himself to be attracted to men, Jinshi changed all of that.
His face is so symmetric. The distance between his eyes, his eyebrows, his nose, his mouth… I’ve never seen such a mathematically perfect face in my life. If only I could measure it.
Lahan had once theorized that physical attraction could be reduced to a number, and that a theoretical “golden number” must exist with perfect human features. He believed that he had just met the owner of this golden number.
“Master Lahan, I’m afraid that I do not share your feelings,” the man secretly known as the Moon Prince flatly rejected Lahan.
Lahan looked beside him to the murky lake water. Sharing the small boat with Jinshi meant that neither of them could escape this any time soon. Perhaps Jinshi was regretting even accepting to share the boat with Lahan.
“Please don’t jump in the water!” Lahan, startled, turned at the rising panic in Jinshi’s voice.
“I wasn’t going to…?” he clarified, tilting his head in confusion.
“Oh! But you were looking into the water, and you looked so deep in thought…” Jinshi trailed off, gesturing as he spoke.
“Please stop interrupting my melancholy, I just got rejected.”
Jinshi conceded, and the two men simply drifted on the lake, with an uncomfortable silence weighing on them both.
After a long moment, Lahan suddenly looks up from the water. Seemingly with no rhyme or reason, he tackles Jinshi against the wood of the board.
“Get-” but before Jinshi could retort anything to Lahan in regard to his unexpected assault, Lahan slapped a hand against his mouth.
“Shut,” Lahan demanded in a low voice, his eyes gleaming with a serious that Jinshi had never seen before.
It was so beyond disrespectful that Jinshi was stunned speechless and began to settle in the discomfort of being pinned between a man shorter than him and the uneven wood surface.
“Okay, she’s gone. Maomao left,” Lahan whispered as he peeked out of the boat.
“So why haven’t you moved yet?” Jinshi mouthed against Lahan’s palm.
Lahan looked down at his prey—because really that’s what he was at this instance—and narrowed his eyes. Now that he had him pinned, he couldn’t think of a reason to let him go. “It’s quite simple, you see, all you have to do is convince Maomao that you’re in love with me. Once she starts to pity you, that’s when I’ll land the final blow and break up with you, making it next to impossible for her to reject you. It’s a foolproof plan.”
The pair had agreed to secretly meet up to discuss Jinshi’s plans of marrying Lakan’s little sister—the fact that she didn’t identify as such was irrelevant to the present meeting. They had taken a small boat to discuss on the lake, far enough so that no one would overhear them.
Jinshi sighed, and Lahan could feel the humidity of the exhale on his hand. “I’ve told you already, I do not share your opinion. I don’t think this will work.”
Lahan looked up again, analyzing his surroundings. There was only one thing left to do. Pinching the fabric of Jinshi’s fabric, he heaved his victim upwards until he was the one pinned down by Jinshi’s body.
Jinshi, unlike Lahan, did not stay in this position. He scrambled to sit upright and dusted himself off. From the corner of his eye, he spotted an oddly colourful figure among the trees. Maomao was standing there with Basen, eyes wide in disbelief.
Jinshi felt the blood drain from his body, and he immediately pulled Lahan forward to help him get the boat back to shore. He had to explain this predicament to the apothecary. As he began paddling with his hands, he looked up and down to make sure Maomao was still there.
He noticed that, unlike most of the time when she looked upon him with disgust and disapproval, she only seemed shocked. Jinshi liked that about her, that she didn’t look at him with the same glazed over admiration that seemed to cloud every one else’s perception of him.
Jinshi could, however, imagine the way Maomao’s features would change the day that she would begin to like him. He looked back at Lahan who was watching him paddle incredulously. Lahan shared almost all the same features as Maomao; he looked like if Maomao had been born a boy. And Lahan didn’t look at Jinshi with disgust, nor did he look at him with saccharine eyes or speak in ingratiatingly flattering praise. In fact, before today, he hadn’t seemed interested in Jinshi at all, which Jinshi appreciated.
“Don’t just sit there!” Jinshi yelled to Lahan as he watched Maomao began to walk away from them. “Help me paddle over to Maomao!”
Lahan crossed his arms over his chest, sighing. “If you want her attention, you know there’s a very easy way to do it.”
“What?” Jinshi turned around so suddenly and eagerly that the boat, which Lahan was intending to flip anyway, turned with such speed that he was propelled into the lake.
“Ah! The Moon Prince is going to die because of me! Please, Maomao, I beg you, please kiss him to bring him back to life!”
Maomao pinched the bridge of her nose at Lahan’s bothersome whining. “This is ridiculous. Why would you flip a boat? This is just…” she sighed.
“If a kiss is what the Moon Prince needs, then Master Lahan, perhaps you could…?” Basen ventured, tears welling up in his eyes at the thought of what would happen to him if he returned with his master dead.
In a moment of clarity, Lahan realized that all the pieces were falling into place. He could be the Moon Prince’s toxic boyfriend starting now. “If true love’s kiss is required, then although I’m certainly the Moon Prince’s true love, I’m sure you both know that I have many other young ladies in love with me. I’m not sure I could-” Maomao pushed him out of the way before he could finish his exalted soliloquy.
Maomao crouched next to Jinshi, grabbing his wrist to feel for his pulse. With yet another exhausted sigh, she stood up and walked away. “If you two want to make out in a boat, be my guest, but stop inconveniencing others.”
Jinshi opened one eye at that to confirm whether Maomao truly was leaving without a second thought. To his immense dismay, she really was.
Stumbling on his feet, Jinshi grabbed the collar of Lahan’s rose and planted a desperate kiss on his lips.
Considering that Maomao had just openly said she didn’t care about them kissing, this did not have the impact that Jinshi had hoped for, and when he turned back around, Maomao was out of sight.
He pushed back Lahan and wiped his lips. “Basen, go after her,” Jinshi ordered, taking command of the situation while his wits were still with him.
“See? That totally worked,” Lahan laughed, swinging his arm around Jinshi’s shoulders. “She was worried that I killed you. Listen to me, if you want Maomao to stop seeing you in a negative light, you have to let her see you get pushed around.”
Jinshi slowly began to nod, contemplating Lahan with a newfound solemnity.
“But first, we should probably get our kissing in order.”
“What does that mean?” Jinshi, who had kissed another human a total of 0 times before today, was convinced that his kissing technique was flawless. Lahan, who had long since lost count of the number of people he had kissed before, only grinned in response.
“Why… are you showing me this?” Jinshi, unwilling as he was, couldn’t take his eyes off of Lahan’s so-called treasure.
“This,” Lahan stroked the treasure in question enthusiastically, “is the very foundation of my high body count.”
Lahan crossed Jinshi’s office in a few wide strides so the inexperienced man could take a better look.
“As you can see, I have duly written down the name, family ties, personality types, and several other variables of every single eligible young woman in the capital of Li. This is what ensures that I never anger the wrong person and that I brownnose to the right ones.”
Jinshi flipped the never-ending pages before him.
“As you can see here, I also include the reason why we dated and broke up. 12% of the women said that they only dated me out of pity, while 63% cheated on me with a man inferior to me who was emboldened by the very existence of our illicit relationship. This is why I know, for a fact, that this is going to be very effective.”
“Are you sure that these statistics are applicable to Maomao? Wait- who are you insinuating is inferior to who?”
“The sample of women that I date is random, so that means that the results are applicable to the entire population. Everyone knows that the researchers are unbiased, of course, that’s why only men of high intellect like myself can pursue mathematics seriously.”
“Uh-huh?” Jinshi kept nodding along, but he didn’t think he was doing a particularly good job at hiding his apathy. “So this is your proof that, if we get together, Maomao will want me?”
“Exactly!”
Lahan and Jinshi watched each other carefully. Jinshi was noticeably taller and stronger than Lahan, yet their dynamic seemed to be inverted, with Lahan holding the upper hand. To be fair, Jinshi thought, this dynamic was sure to be maintained if he were to settle with Maomao. In fact, a part of Jinshi had always craved this dynamic, but he wasn’t ready for that much introspection yet. On the other hand, Lahan was entirely ready for such a level of psychoanalysis and immediately identified this aspect of Jinshi’s personality.
Lahan plopped down on an armchair, eyeing Jinshi intently. “Your turn. What’s your contribution to this plot?”
The corners of Jinshi’s mouth curled upwards. He had much more experience than Lahan seemed to think—at least in terms of flirting.
Jinshi stood up, walking from his desk to Lahan’s seat, grabbing hold of the armrests and enclosing Lahan between the sleeves of his robes.
Lahan’s dark eyes were trained on his. His chin was lifted to meet Jinshi’s gaze, leaving his neck exposed. With one swift movement, Jinshi exposed Lahan’s collarbones and traced the dip at the base of Lahan’s throat to his Adam’s apple to his lower lip. He felt Lahan shiver underneath his touch, and Jinshi’s smirk widened.
He thought it might be interesting to see how far he could push Lahan while imagining him as Maomao. Since they looked so similar, Jinshi was sure that it would be easy to make the change in his head. Yet, as he was looking into the eyes of Maomao’s adopted older brother/cousin, he simply didn’t feel the need to.
Lahan’s mouth hung slightly agape, and his breathing tickled Jinshi’s finger. Jinshi brought his finger to the corner of Lahan’s mouth, and Lahan suddenly turned his head and bit down.
Jinshi felt something catch in his throat, but he didn’t otherwise react. With his finger still firmly held by Lahan’s teeth, he twisted his hand to hold Lahan’s jaw just as firmly.
Lahan’s jaw relaxed, and Jinshi retracted his wet finger slightly, if only just to adjust his grip on the man’s face.
“Master Lahan, you haven’t told me what you’d be getting out of this little scheme of yours. If you don’t clarify, I might be led to believe that I am what you’re hoping to get.”
A smirk matching Jinshi’s was etched on Lahan’s face. “If the Moon Prince truly thinks so highly of his capabilities, I certainly hope to bear witness to them.”
In fact, Lahan was fascinated by Jinshi’s beauty, both in a physical and metaphysical sense. How much would Jinshi’s muscles need to flex to throw Lahan on his bed? Would their lung capacity differ greatly? Would they pant in sync or would Jinshi’s heartbeat sound tantalizingly slow against Lahan’s?
Lahan grabbed Jinshi’s hand—the one he was using to prop himself up against Lahan’s chair—and brought it to the already partly open collar of his robes. He used Jinshi’s hand to push down against the fabric further until his palm was against his chest. Now, Jinshi could hear his pounding heart.
“And what if I did want you?” Lahan mimicked the way Jinshi had added emphasis on the pronoun in his reply.
Jinshi’s smile faltered, and both of his hands loosened on Lahan, hovering just above the skin. Lahan took his wrists in response, pulling Jinshi onto his lap as he brought his hands behind his neck.
“Master Lahan…” Jinshi breathed, pleading with eyes full of uncertainty.
Lahan lifted Jinshi slightly, adjusting the angle so he could kiss him softly. Lahan stayed on Jinshi’s lips for a moment, longing for reciprocation, but he didn’t push beyond what Jinshi had previously done to him, refusing not to cross an unspoken line between them.
Jinshi cursed himself internally, because try as he might to think of Maomao, she repeatedly faded from his mind as Lahan’s lips closed on his. Their mouths were the same size, and their lips fit comfortably with each other’s. Lahan’s arms were strong enough to hold Jinshi without him fearing that he might crush Lahan below him.
Although Jinshi had never previously considered himself to be attracted to men, Lahan changed all of that.
Jinshi’s fingers dug into Lahan’s messy hair as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. Lahan’s tongue slipped out to tease Jinshi’s who gasped at the contact. He pulled back for a moment, staring once more at Lahan’s enthralling dark eyes. Jinshi couldn’t choose which pupil to look at, instead glancing back and forth in a desperate attempt to read the man’s mind, to no avail.
“Hmm?” Lahan raised an eyebrow. “Are you thinking of everything we could do together? Let me know if you need any ideas.”
Lahan’s flirtation caused a rush of heat to rise to Jinshi’s face. Undesired thoughts provoke his mind, making him desire Lahan all the more. Jinshi was so conflicted that he could only rest his head on Lahan’s shoulder, deflated. He didn’t know how to word his thoughts, he didn’t even know if those thoughts ever ought to see light of day.
Lahan’s arms wrapped around Jinshi’s waist, but the comfort of the embrace was only momentary, followed by the sensation of Jinshi’s robes being pulled at.
“Hey, don’t be embarrassed. I was intending to share my expertise with you anyway,” Lahan whispered in Jinshi’s ear. Though his tone sounded soothing, his reassurance was decidedly provocative.”
Jinshi could only nod against Lahan’s shoulder.
He allowed Lahan to remove his outer robes for him. Once he had shrugged them off his shoulders, he lifted his head to face Lahan. Perhaps it was because of the physical act, but he also felt like a metaphorical weight had stopped pushing him down. He felt vulnerable in his inner robes in front of a man who he had considered barely more than a stranger not long ago. Emboldened, Jinshi removed his inner robes slowly, displaying his bare chest to Lahan.
Asymmetry was not supposed to be attractive. That was the first thought that Lahan had. All of his theories on physical attraction and beauty were being unravelled by Lahan’s unambiguous lust for Jinshi. He had faint scars, likely from sparring matches, and the lines of his muscles were not nearly as picture perfect as Lahan had drawn them in his mind, and yet Jinshi only seemed the more beautiful for it.
Noticing the way Lahan’s eyes darted all around his body, taking the view in, Jinshi scoffed. With a finger, he lifted Lahan’s chin until their eyes met. “Eyes up here,” he teased.
He thought that he had regained control, but when Lahan pulled him closer by the waist again, planting kisses on his abdomen, Jinshi had to hold the armrest again only to keep himself standing. Lahan’s kisses reminded him of a ticklish sensation, but rather than making him laugh, it made him squirm. He couldn’t even look directly in Lahan’s direction.
“What’s this feeling?” he asked Lahan once he caught his breath.
He felt Lahan shift, likely turning to look at him. “Does it feel particularly strong? Might be an erogenous zone for you, then,” Lahan replied matter-of-factly.
“What do you mean?”
Lahan’s hand reached out to Jinshi, forcing him to make eye contact once more. “Bite my neck.”
The command was so blunt, that Jinshi may have collapsed if not for the arm Lahan extended to support him.
Lahan shifted again and brought Jinshi’s legs on either side of him on the seat. “There. Now do it.”
“I can’t. What if it hurts?”
Lahan threw his head back, exposing his neck to Jinshi. “Then hurt me.”
He tried to take a deep breath to calm his beating heart, but there was nothing to salvage. Lahan had undone him entirely.
Jinshi brought a hand to Lahan’s neck, rubbing softly at first. Then, Jinshi leaned forward and kissed longingly Lahan’s neck, slowly becoming wet with his saliva. Jinshi tentatively sucked some skin into his mouth before nibbling lightly at it.
“Harder,” Lahan breathed. “Don’t be afraid to hurt me, Moon Prince.”
Jinshi pulled back, returning a hand to Lahan’s neck, pushing it upwards against his jaw to be able to hold tight without choking him. “Well, aren’t you demanding?”
“That feels so nice,” Lahan said at the same time.
“What does?” Jinshi asked.
“You choking me. Do it harder.”
Jinshi sighed, but a playful smile quickly returned to his face. He pressed against Lahan’s jaw with more force, then leaned down to kiss him. This time, his tongue darted out first, seeking Lahan’s far into his mouth. Their kiss was wet and sloppy, but when Lahan moaned softly into Jinshi’s mouth, the kiss could only intensify.
Jinshi was becoming more and more comfortable with this dynamic. He allowed Lahan to breathe so he could kiss down his cheek, his jaw, his neck. He took a leap of faith and bit down on Lahan’s soft skin, eliciting another moan from him. Jinshi wanted more.
Lahan suddenly pushed him off to undress himself, removing his outer robe and inner robe in one fell swoop. The only physical barrier between their bodies left were thin cotton undergarments.
Jinshi suddenly understood Lahan’s eyes on him when he undressed himself, because he too couldn’t stop looking. He dropped to his knees before Lahan, who had stood up to shrug off his clothing.
Lahan eyed him suspiciously, but with an amused grin. “What are you planning to do down there?”
“Admire you for a tad longer,” Jinshi admitted, his filter seeming to have left the room a long time ago.
Jinshi didn’t have the words to express or even understand the emotions welling up inside him, so he could only stay in position—in position to praise Lahan.
Whatever the reason was that brought them together, Jinshi couldn’t recall it.
Recollecting himself before he completely lost his mind, Jinshi took Lahan’s hand, leading him to the wall behind the guest. The only flimsy excuse for a rational thought he had was telling him that, if the Moon Prince allowed someone to cause his undoing like so, the least Jinshi could do was show gratitude. That, in addition with Lahan’s preferences had brought Jinshi to the conclusion that he should pick up Lahan and hold him against the wall of his office to kiss him again.
When Lahan felt Jinshi’s strong arms against his thighs, lifting him against the wall, his mind was surprisingly empty. His arms automatically went to Jinshi’s neck, but that was it. Normally, he would have subconsciously calculated how much the person before him worked out or something of the sort. This time, Lahan’s mind obstinately refused to think of any number beyond how many kisses Jinshi had given him and how many more he might get.
Lahan lost himself in the kiss, his tongue matching Jinshi’s in a messy back and forth. The kiss was so ravaging that both of them were panting already, struggling to keep track with their own desire.
Without breaking the kiss, Jinshi turned around and placed Lahan down on his desk. Thankfully, there was no paperwork piling up since he’d cleared it before he met with Lahan, otherwise it would have unapologetically been scattered on the floor.
Lahan used his legs to lock Jinshi in place, pulling him closer so he would be able to kiss his abdomen again. Jinshi’s arms went around Lahan’s head almost immediately, pulling his hair for every hickey Lahan was leaving on the prince’s skin.
Lahan’s mouth moved dangerously low, and if Jinshi had any self-control at this moment, he may have put up some kind of resistance out of embarrassment. Fortunately, his embarrassment was no foe against his current craze.
“Ma… Lahan,” was all Jinshi could muster.
Lahan, admittedly primarily focused on lowering Jinshi’s undergarments, looked up when he heard his name. “Did you say ‘My Lahan?’”
Jinshi, wanting Lahan’s mouth to return to kissing him, shook his head in an attempt to convey the mistake, but he abandoned the plan almost as quickly. “I’ll call you whatever you want, just keep going.”
Lahan chuckled, and his attention returned to the tent forming before him. “As you wish, my prince.”
Jinshi opened his mouth to say something when he felt Lahan’s hand wrapped around his erection. He sucked in his breath, feeling a growing need for Lahan’s touch.
As though he could read Jinshi’s mind, Lahan begun stroking him, his pace eager.
Jinshi closed his eyes, not bearing to process the explosion of pleasure.
Glancing upwards briefly, Lahan smiled to himself before opening his mouth and hollowing his cheeks, ready to take him inside.
Unable to hold his breath anymore, Jinshi released a low groan, a moan in disguise. His hand in Lahan’s hair had become a fist unbeknownst to him, pulling tightly as Lahan moved his head back and forth.
“Th- That feels… so good,” Jinshi struggled to say, but at least he wasn’t moaning pathetically. That was his one salvation.
Lahan licked around the tip in response, then went back in deeper, and Jinshi grunted.
Lahan replaced his mouth with his hand, which was able to go much faster, and then kissed Jinshi.
“You’re trying not to moan, aren’t you?” Lahan said before returning to the kiss.
He refused to let Jinshi pull away, bringing a hand to the back of his neck to keep him in place.
Lahan was completely right, of course, and under the intense stimulation and his inability to hide his moans by speaking, Jinshi couldn’t stop himself from moaning into Lahan’s mouth.
“Lahan,” Jinshi tried to say, muffled.
Lahan pulled back slightly, just because he wanted to hear Jinshi moan his name. “Stop closing your eyes,” Lahan demanded before returning to his blowjob.
“Lahan,” Jinshi tried to protest, but it came out like whining. “I can’t take it. It feels too good.”
Jinshi still struggled to get out the words, but since they were mixed in with desperate moans, Lahan accepted them happily.
“Keep going,” Jinshi supplicated. “Please keep going.”
Though Lahan had never taken another man into his mouth like this before, he was determined to make him reach climax. He brought his hands to the back of Jinshi’s thighs, trying to allow himself to go deeper without triggering his gag reflex. He slowly got the hang of it as Jinshi’s moans turned to genuine begging. “Lahan, please. Please,” he pleaded, barely coherent.
Lahan had never once thought the Moon Prince would beg him in such a way, but it only reinvigorated him. He continued as he felt Jinshi’s legs begin to tremble—no, his entire body was trembling, before Jinshi suddenly pulled away, stumbling onto the floor as a familiar sticky liquid was ejected from his wet tip.
Lahan got off the desk, crouching on all fours above Jinshi, whose eyes Lahan would never forget. His own undergarments were getting wet as well, but he ignored it. He was already getting what he wanted from pleasing Jinshi, he didn’t need anything more.
“Sorry,” Jinshi exhaled, but Lahan promptly shut him up with another passionate kiss.
Their bodies moved closer, holding one another until they were equally wet and sticky—Lahan’s response to Jinshi’s apology. Jinshi tried to reach down into Lahan’s undergarments as well, but Lahan swatted his hand away.
“We’ve pushed our luck enough for one day. I’m sure your guard wants to go home too.”
“I want to do this again then,” Jinshi replied, his voice hoarse.
“Of course,” Lahan assured him.
They kissed one more time before Lahan stood up, offering a hand to Jinshi as well, who didn’t take it. “Give me another minute.”
Lahan went over to grab their robes, putting his on over the mess they’d made.
“I don’t know what to do about the mess, though. I can hardly let my lady-in-waiting clean this,” Jinshi said.
Lahan shrugged. “Unsavoury rumours of my behaviour towards you are good. So that Maomao comes to your rescue.”
Jinshi frowned. He hadn’t thought that Lahan would still be thinking of that when he had completely forgotten already. He dispelled those thoughts from his mind, closing his heart back up. “Right. This is so I can get with Maomao.”
He tried to keep his face blank but couldn’t shake off his unease.
“Alright well, I’ll be going now. I’ll be waiting for another summons from you.”
Lahan left first, leaving Jinshi to sit with the mess he’d created.