QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

tw: mild sexual content

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By the time Xi Zirui comes with a strangled moan between the two of them, fucked almost into hypersensitivity, Han Yu is so worked up that the contractions of Xi Zirui's hot insides are enough to send him over the edge and have him spilling inside Xi Zirui with a moan of his own.

They stay entangled like that in the soft grass for some time, exchanging languid kisses back and forth.

Han Yu noses along Xi Zirui's sensitive neck with a sigh. "Shizun, let's run away."

Xi Zirui's heart seizes inside his chest. "What is Han Yu thinking?"

Han Yu closes his eyes, his long eyelashes quivering gently on his smooth cheeks. "If we're ever found out, at the very least our golden cores will be destroyed for our sins," he sucks on a shaky breath, "most likely, Shizun will be put to death for leading a disciple astray."

Xi Zirui imagined something like this, after Ni Ni's cryptic words, but it still makes his stomach drop to hear the trembling worry in Han Yu's voice.

"This disciple couldn't bear that," Han Yu says, opening his eyes to gaze longingly at Xi Zirui, cupping his jaw in his palm. "So let's leave Shizun, let's disappear into Jianghu and start a new life together, one where only the two of us know we are disciple and Shizun."

The intensity of Han Yu's gaze is too much for Xi Zirui and he has to look away. His heart is beating against his ribcage like a trapped animal. 

All he wants is a way for him and Han Yu to live out a quiet life together.

Ever since he met Han Yu that's all Xi Zirui has ever wanted. 

It twists him up in knots, to see the suggestion fall so freely from Han Yu's lips.

As if it's really that simple.

Could it be?

Xi Zirui doesn't hear Ni Ni's alarmed chime, or her grating warnings, and it makes him grow bold, makes him want to give into all the promises swimming into Han Yu's shining eyes.

He looks up into Han Yu's earnest face, and runs his thumb over his cheek. "Would Han Yu throw his entire life away like that?"

Han Yu snuggles into Xi Zirui's palm and turns his face to drop a kiss in the middle of it. "This disciple has been tormented with visions of Shizun's love ever since he was a boy, forced to wake up into a reality where Shizun was cold and cruel."

He kisses Xi Zirui's palm again when he notices his smile fading. "Nothing would make this disciple happier than turning those dreams into reality, for as long as Shizun wants."

Xi Zirui's eyelashes shutter down his eyes, trembling with barely restrained emotion. Han Yu always finds a way to bring forth his shyness. 

The hottest, most filthiest sex isn't enough to make Xi Zirui blush, but the simplest promise of devotion from Han Yu reduces him to a simpering youth.

It would be humiliating if Xi Zirui didn't like it so much. 

Xi Zirui has never been shy before. Embarrassed, of course, mortified even, but never experienced the bashfulness that comes with infatuation, with love.

Only Han Yu has made his heart race and his blood boil with his proximity alone.

He loops his arms around Han Yu's neck and kisses the breath out of his lungs, desperate to be closer to him.

"How can this weak Shizun resist his disciple?" he asks, when they part for air.

A delighted grin curls Han Yu's lips upwards. "Best that he doesn't."

Han Yu moves above him and Xi Zirui feels the unpleasant sensation of Han Yu's come leaking out of him.

Seeing Xi Zirui's grimace, Han Yu picks him up under the knees. "Shizun, allow this disciple to attend to you."

Xi Zirui kicks his feet up in the air, indulging in the childishness of the moment and allows himself to be carried to the river in Han Yu's arms.

Han Yu gets rid of the rest of his robes by the riverbank, and the two of them dive into the cool waters.

Huan Xuan's and Xi Ming's cruel fates completely out of mind.

Xi Zirui hasn't forgotten his promise to get revenge in their name. He will find a way to make Su Xueyi pay. Unfortunately, it won't involve his death, or accidentally lead to his suicide - he has learnt that much from the previous world - but as soon as he fulfills his promise, Xi Zirui will disappear with Han Yu to wherever the road takes them.

The mere thought of their future together fills his heart with lightness. 

He splashes water towards Han Yu, overcome with bubbling glee, and ducks his head when Han Yu returns the attack with a chilling splash of his own.

They play like that, like two giggling boys, for a time, splashing and trying to sink the other underwater, until their playful touches start of linger, and suddenly there's nothing boyish about their play anymore.

Xi Zirui wraps his legs around Han Yu's waist under water, and raises himself on his shoulders so that Han Yu can get at one of his nipples and lavish it with his tongue, teasing it into a stiff peak.

Han Yu's big hands cup his ass, one hand in each cheek, squeezing and kneading. "Shizun," Han Yu says, biting into his lower lip. "Can I?" he asks, emphasizing his point by letting his fingers draw closer to the valley between Xi Zirui's cheeks.

Xi Zirui tightens his legs, smirking down at Han Yu from his elevated position.

He loves having Han Yu at his mercy like this, desperate for it. 

It's a good look on him.

He runs his thumb over Han Yu's bottom lip, reddened and swollen, prolonging the anticipation.

"Shidi, give the boy an answer," Su Xueyi says, his voice carrying over from the riverbank.

Xi Zirui freezes, feels Han Yu tense up under him.

Su Xueyi doesn't move. From the corner of his eye, Xi Zirui notices that the robes he left by the weeping willow are now draped across Su Xueyi's arm.

"Sect leader, it's not what you think," Han Yu says, letting go of Xi Zirui, putting some distance between them.

Xi Zirui knows why he's doing it, why he must do it, but it still stings.

"Oh," Su Xueyi starts, a wry smirk pulling at his lips. "Am I to believe Shidi's disciple was sucking on his chest in a way becoming of their filial bond?"

The way he says it makes Xi Zirui want to slap him. How dare he make it sound so dirty?

He extends the arm with the robes towards Xi Zirui. "Come here, Shidi."

What fucking choice does Xi Zirui have?

Biting his cheek, he moves towards the margin, but Han Yu holds him back. "Shizun, wait-"

Su Xueyi barks a warning at him. "Shidi, come here this instant if you know what's good for you and your disciple."

Xi Zirui doesn't risk it.

Head held high, he makes his way towards Su Xueyi, despite the sudden vulnerability he feels at being naked in front of him like this.

When he reaches for the robes Su Xueyi snatches them away. "Allow me," he says, holding the white inner robe above Xi Zirui's shoulder so he can slip into it.

Han Yu puts on his own robes, carelessly discarded by the riverbank.

Once Xi Zirui is fully dressed in both inner and outer robes, Su Xueyi looks him up an down as if accessing him.

Xi Zirui does a poor job of masking his hatred.

And then, a poor job of masking his surprise when Su Xueyi draws back his hand and smacks him across the cheek. "Whore," he says, spitting out the word with so much venom it stings more than the slap.

Han Yu puts himself between Xi Zirui and Su Xueyi, his teeth bared in outrage. "Never touch my Shizun again."

Su Xueyi scoffs and pushes Han Yu away with so much force he stumbles to the ground.

He advances on Xi Zirui and wraps his large hand around his neck, squeezing tightly. "You know, Shidi, it's funny, I wait so long for you to reincarnate, and you come back exactly as willing to spread your legs for the first mongrel who asks as in your previous life." His hand grows tighter around Xi Zirui's neck, making him gasp. "What am I going to do with you, Shidi?"

It's clear he doesn't expect an answer. 

But he also doesn't expect the whip that wraps around his fist pulling it away from Xi Zirui's throat and towards Han Yu. "I said, let go of my Shizun."

He lets go of Su Xueyi briefly, and rears back with his whip to strike him again, but in that moment Su Xueyi pulls two thin needles out of his sleeve, aiming them between two fingers towards Xi Zirui's eyes.

Han Yu goes suddenly still.

"If you know what's good for your Shizun, you'll stop with the theatrics."

Exchanging one anguished look with Xi Zirui, who nods at him to obey Su Xueyi's words, Han Yu lowers his whip.

Su Xueyi moves behind Xi Zirui with lightening speed and clasps him by the back of the neck, like a misbehaving kitten. "Here's what we're going to do...You'll dive into the river and find the hairpin, but don't touch it with your fingers, wrap it around your sleeve and bring it to the surface."

Han Yu makes his way to the river with one last hateful look towards Su Xueyi.

"Don't try to touch it with your fingers, that will just send us into another loop, and when we get there, I really will pluck your Shizun's eyes." He pulls Xi Zirui's wet hair to the side and drops a kiss on his exposed neck. "Better for me that he doesn't have them."

Clenching his fingers into a fist, Han Yu disappears into the water.

Xi Zirui flinches under the press of Su Xueyi's lips, disgusted. 

"I'm not Xi Ming," he hisses, through gritted teeth. Su Xueyi clearly believes so, from his previous words.

His cheeks dimple in a cold smile. "No, not yet, but you will be."