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When the pro Glory scene had only just begun and Han Wenqing finally came face to face with players he had inevitably played with or against in-game in the past, Ye Xiu had been probably the one he had looked forward to meeting the most. He remembered the anticipation he had felt, trying to put a face to the voice he heard through his headphones--although he would never admit this out loud, and especially not now, after getting to know him. Even before the Alliance, Ye Xiu had always been at the forefront of the stage, the one who everyone looked to. He had a presence, that even in-game through a mere two-dimensional screen, everyone felt. Not to mention, Ye Xiu had easily been his best, most evenly matched opponent, even before going pro, competing against him for top spot in the game. It was hard to say who was the better player when both of them took turns one upping each other. So yes, he was a little bit excited to meet him at first.
Upon meeting him in person, however, Han Wenqing didn't think Ye Xiu was physically attractive, objectively speaking. If he was just passing by someone in the street with Ye Xiu's appearance, he wouldn't have thought anything of it, and probably wouldn't remember him at all.
It was the way he carried himself, confident, smooth, and powerful, that exuded an indescribable charm that drew people in. Drew him in. That was something he could never deny, something that even his fans saw. Of course it partially had to do with their unending rivalry, Excellent Era versus Tyranny, but there was more.
He could only sigh in attempts to even slightly lighten the complicated feelings that rose in him whenever he thought of the night where he got a glimpse for the numerous ordeals he would suffer throughout the following years.
He had met Ye Xiu only a handful of times at most when it happened, way back in season one. It was suffice to say he hadn't known just how hard it was to deal with Ye Xiu yet , but he had an inkling of it even before they met face to face. He knew at the very least that Ye Xiu could get whatever he wanted out of Han Wenqing whether it was given willingly or not. So after one of their matches, when Ye Xiu had come up to him with the entire Excellent Era team behind him like imprinted ducklings, he was cautious. And rightfully so, as Ye Xiu proceeded to ask, "Hey Old Han, wanna come celebrate with us at a restaurant nearby?"
Han Wenqing was taken aback by how casual and easy that had come out of Ye Xiu, as though he was asking a longtime friend and not the opposing team captain who Ye Xiu had just beat. "Celebrating what?" Han Wenqing had asked, frankly quite dumbly when he thought about it now.
Because in hindsight, knowing Ye Xiu, naturally he answered, "Our win against Tyranny, of course. Is there anything else to celebrate today?" The other Excellent Era members looked at Ye Xiu like he was crazy, but no one said anything. No one would protest against God Ye.
Han Wenqing should've just walked away right then and there. But back then, he didn't know . He hadn't devised any sort of defenses or strategies in dealing with Ye Xiu yet--because that was indisputably the only way not to go insane around him.
Instead, he had stood in stunned silence for a moment, and said, "Why would I do that."
Ye Xiu only smiled with a small upturned curve on his lips and a crinkle at the corners of his eyes. "It'll be fun."
Something about that look, all secretive and knowing, made him shiver. In that very moment, Ye Xiu was the most attractive male he had ever had the privilege to lay eyes on. And before he knew it, he was following them to the restaurant to celebrate their win against his team.
So there he sat, sandwiched between Excellent Era's captain and vice captain at a table full of Excellent Era members. He was numb, wondering exactly how he had gotten himself into this situation.
They ate, everyone laughing and joking around as they raved about their glorious win against Tyranny, and oh, God Ye totally smeared Captain Han--oh wait he's right here, oops . He ate silently, brows knotted tightly with a deep frown on his lips, internally cursing at Ye Xiu because it was one hundred percent his fault.
And then the alcohol came.
It wasn't even anything of high alcohol content--it was closer to pee colored water than anything else.
Throughout the night, Ye Xiu had poked and prodded a conversation out of him, but only elicited at most five word replies. Han Wenqing very resolutely did not interact, or look at anyone at the table, and the few times he caught someone staring at him as his eyes glazed over them, they immediately turned away.
But then he heard from beside him: "Han Wenqing."
Han Wenqing's head whipped to the side, and he froze.
Ye Xiu had uttered his name in a way he had never heard before. It dripped down like sex, deep and sultry, smooth and knowing, like thick liquid that poured heat all over his body. Fuck.
His eyes were lidded and that smile , the one Han Wenqing gave into in a heartbeat was back on his face, and everything else around him faded away. Ye Xiu suddenly seemed to have gotten closer to him, leaning in as Han Wenqing could only blankly stare back at him.
A deep pink, pert little tongue slipped out of Ye Xiu's glossy mouth and slowly dragged across the length of his bottom lip.
Everything went straight to Han Wenqing's dick. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He was so fucked.
"What--what are you doing?" His voice cracked.
"Oh, nothing," Ye Xiu chuckled, perfectly aware that it was not nothing .
Han Wenqing's heart was racing, and he couldn't be certain if he had enough blood for the rest of his body because he was positively sure it had all gone to his throbbing cock. He stood up and grabbed his jacket, holding it in front of him as naturally as possible to tastefully cover the view of his crotch, for precautionary purposes.
"I'm leaving."
He stormed out of there.
He turned corner to an alleyway, panting as he waited for his pulsing dick to calm down. He cursed himself and Ye Xiu--but mostly Ye Xiu--as he leaned against the wall, lamenting over ever meeting the goddamned man who made him like this. "Fuck!"
"Great idea, Han Wenqing, I'd love to."
He pushed down a scream and jumped back in surprise. " Fuck! "
It was Ye Xiu, who apparently had followed him outside. The lights of the streets behind him made his eyes glow, and his lips, which Han Wenqing's gaze inevitably fell to had a sheen that reflected off of the light. He chuckled. "I heard you the first time, you know."
Before Han Wenqing could say anything, Ye Xiu was in front of him, smirk widening like a predator as his hand reached out and grabbed his arm, and the other very assertively smacked against the wall behind him right beside Han Wenqing's neck.
He had no time to process the situation. Lips crashed into his and there was a distinct clatter of teeth on teeth. A silk tongue swiped across his lips and he jumped onto this chance to slip his tongue in Ye Xiu's mouth. He felt a hand in his hair, pulling at it without abandon. All the blood that had just left his cock went right back. His hand had somehow travelled to Ye Xiu's waist, and so he pulled him closer until they were chest to chest, still furiously biting and sucking each other's lips with only quickened breaths that filled the air.
A short, quiet moan came out of Ye Xiu's throat. He felt a sudden pressure at his crotch and he broke off the kiss to the tantalizing view of Ye Xiu grinding helplessly against him, red lips parted open as his lids fluttered heavily over his glazed eyes. Han Wenqing could just imagine pushing his cock into that gaping mouth and the thought of that made his hips jerk up to meet Ye Xiu's needy thrusts. He heard a gasp, and they began to go harder, faster, as both of them lost themselves to the insatiable friction and heat. Ye Xiu let out dirty keens that stuttered like staccato to each thrust, completely lost to desire.
And suddenly, everything stopped.
Ye Xiu fell into his chest, and he caught him by the waist in surprise and confusion.
What the fuck?
He looked down at Ye Xiu and swore.
Han Wenqing was still rock hard and panting like he had just run a mile. Ye Xiu was fast asleep, leaning against his chest, head lolling dumbly in the air.
He loathed the man before him more than ever. Dragged to his team celebration for winning against him, subject to irresistible flirting, and then blueballed. He was speechless.
After waiting out his erection and getting both of them to a more presentable state, he carried Ye Xiu back into the restaurant, praying Excellent Era was still there so he could palm Ye Xiu off to them to deal with.
Luckily they still were, and as he approached, they fell silent at the sight of him, all eyes wide with disbelief. He dropped the body into the vice captain's lap, scowling as he said, "He's drunk." Yes, that explained the disheveled hair and flushed cheeks perfectly.
Then he walked away without another word.
When he got home, he texted Ye Xiu on QQ: Can we talk about what happened today.
He took a shower and jerked off about what had happened while feeling pathetic and sorry for himself, and then went to bed. He checked his phone once in feeble hopes for a response and received none so he pulled the covers over his shoulder and tried to go to sleep.
The next morning, he had finally gotten a reply: last night was funny. we should do it again!
Shock coursed through him at the suggestion. He furiously typed out: Are you being serious right now?!
One Autumn Leaf: yeah, next time you lose to me, we can go out and celebrate again. kekeke
He was in the middle of replying when another message popped up.
One Autumn Leaf: btw, i think i got wasted hahaha what happened later
Han Wenqing thought he couldn't be surprised anymore, but upon reading this message, he went numb, his phone falling out of his hands and onto the bedside table with a clatter. Ye Xiu didn't remember a thing.
Han Wenqing was a little bit relieved, but mostly felt tricked, somehow. As though he had suffered blow after blow from Ye Xiu, and while he had been going insane thinking about everything, the other man hadn't even remembered it in the first place. He picked his phone up and smashed out a reply with a vengeance:
Desert Dust: Don't EVER drink alcohol again.
Ye Xiu was someone Zhang Jiale preferred to keep at arm's length. Or several arms' length. Farther the better, because that meant less trouble for him. Sadly for him, he found that out the hard way.
Back when Hundred Blossoms was still a new team, the pro Glory scene had a very different atmosphere. Back then, it was truly Excellent Era's dynasty. There was no other team that even came close to competing against God Ye in reputation, who terrifyingly represented both One Autumn Leaf and the Glory Textbook. There was simply no competition in the first place: no one who followed the pro Glory scene didn't know about Excellent Era, and every other team was talked about by how close they could measure up to Excellent Era . It was no wonder the media and sponsors all swarmed towards a single team.
He and Sun Zheping together were one of the closest to beating Excellent Era with their team in the season three postseason finals despite still suffering a loss with a considerable margin. But it was still the closest any team had gotten to defeating Ye Xiu, barring Tyrannical Ambition.
They were still in H-city right after the finals with their return flights booked the next morning at the time. He and Sun Zheping were in the hotel's gaming room, silently playing Glory.
They were tired, frankly, of pouring in all their lives and hopes into their dreams of the championship title for the past two years and a half. Before the first match of the finals all the way until the fourth, they held onto the hope that perhaps they could still win--they had to, in order to keep playing. Zhang Jiale was nowhere near resigned or giving up, but he needed a brief break from it all.
He heard Sun Zheping let out a harsh breath and Zhang Jiale looked over when the clacking of his partner's keyboard ceased. Sun Zheping appeared unruffled despite everything, his usual harsh-set lips and narrowed eyes projecting an unapproachable aura. "This is stupid." Sun Zheping stood and grabbed his team jacket hanging off his chair. "C'mon, Jiale, let's go."
Zhang Jiale logged out and pocketed his account card, standing up to follow his partner. "To where?"
"Away from Glory, just for a little bit at least," Sun Zheping said, the first sign of his frustration leaking out of his voice.
They walked out of the hotel and into the busy night of H-city, where flashy screens lit up the streets with replays of the finals that had just taken place a couple hours ago, and people milling out and about with a beer in celebration of victory. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Zhang Jiale said as they stared at the visible reminder of exactly where they were: in the homebase of the team that just defeated them.
Sun Zheping grabbed his arm and pinned him down with a look. "Let's get wasted tonight."
He stared at his partner for a moment and then let out a dry laugh. "OK. Let's drink until we can't remember anything the next day."
They found the closest club and entered, immediately engulfed in the neon lights that flashed around in the dark, and the heady bass of the music thrumming against the floor. They made a beeline to the bar for a round of drinks. Zhang Jiale held up his shot towards Sun Zheping. "To season four."
Sun Zheping let out a bark of laughter and held his shot up too. "Fuck season three, fuck it all." They both downed it in one and went for another.
By the fifth shot, Zhang Jiale was feeling much better. He was warm and Sun Zheping was next to him, and all the adrenaline he normally felt from playing a good opponent coursed through him now. He was feeling good. "Zheping," he said as he stole the shot glass out of Sun Zheping's hands, "let's dance."
"You're drunk," Sun Zheping said plainly.
He laughed, feeling absolutely tickled and delighted as he pulled them towards the dance floor. He looked back towards his partner and said over the music, "Isn't that why we're here?"
So they danced, bodies melting in with other bodies as they all moved together with the bass. Zhang Jiale forgot everything except for Sun Zheping's body against him and the beat of the music thrumming through him.
He didn't know how long he had been dancing when Sun Zheping stopped moving. Zhang Jiale stopped too and looked over at Sun Zheping in concern. He was looking farther off, eyes shining in indisputable fascination somewhere behind Zhang Jiale, so he spun around to see what Sun Zheping was looking at as he tried to push down the vicious flash of possessiveness that burned through his stomach.
The tightness in his gut was forgotten the moment he laid eyes on the sight of interest. It was a boy, or a man--too broad shouldered to be the former but too slim to be the latter--putting himself out on the dancefloor. He wasn't wearing anything crazy, just plain black jeans and a simple red shirt, but the way he moved his hips as he lifted up his shirt for a tantalizing second, and the way his eyes glowed under the neon lights as his cheeks flushed pretty pink was captivating.
The drunk part of Zhang Jiale whispered to himself: fuckable. The man was so absolutely fuckable.
Zhang Jiale swore the glowing eyes met his for an instance from across the dancefloor, and then slightly above him, behind him to where he knew Sun Zheping stood, and a slow smirk appeared on the man's face. A couple people walked between them, temporarily blocking the view of the boy and when he looked back at where the boy was, he was gone.
"Did you just see that?" Zhang Jiale shouted to his partner over the music.
"Yeah, that was weird."
Zhang Jiale craned his neck in attempts to relocate the man. "Where'd he go though? I'm pretty sure he was looking at us."
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice from his side yelled above the noise, "Dazzling Hundred Blossoms and Blossoming Chaos, right?"
He and Sun Zheping spun around and collectively, their jaws went slack. It was the dancer from just earlier. From up close, he was even more attractive, with a strong jawline, pale glowing skin and feminine long lashes that framed his light colored eyes. He had no hesitation in his gait as he continued to step toward them until he stopped right in front of Zhang Jiale, almost nose to nose.
"Do you know who I am?" His voice was dangerously deep.
"Y-ye Qiu?!" Zhang Jiale took a step back and fell into Sun Zheping, who caught him securely by the shoulder. This was his first time seeing Ye Xiu up close--he had never thought God Ye would be like this.
"I see, I see." Ye Xiu eyed the hand on his shoulder and said with a knowing smirk, "No wonder you two work so well together. Congratulations on Best Partner Award."
Zhang Jiale was so overwhelmed by the implications and revelations he was having at the moment, he wasn't able to gather himself in time to respond. Ye Qiu was the hot dancer he had wanted to fuck just a second ago?
"So are you two here to drink your sorrows away?"
Sun Zheping's grip on his shoulder tightened. "You fucker-"
Ye Xiu thrust his hand out toward Sun Zheping for a handshake. "It was a good match today. I truly do respect the teamwork you two have. It's undoubtedly the best in the pro circuit so far."
The smirk had never left his face, and it irritated him more than anything. Sun Zheping grabbed Ye Xiu by his collar and brought him close, growling, "You messing with us right now?"
"No, no, I'm being serious," Ye Xiu said. "Your dual-core kept me on my toes this season. It was fun playing against Hundred Blossoms.
"But enough about that," he carried on saying. His lids grew heavy and his smirk widened as his voice dropped low. "We should talk about some other kinds of games." There was a hungry gleam in his eyes as it fell on Sun Zheping's lips.
Zhang Jiale could see equal interest in his partner's face as he drank in the sight of the seductress before him.
No! He felt like screaming. He wouldn't allow this--not on his watch. But then a warm hand cupped his cheek, and in a voice full of sex and promises, Ye Xiu purred, "You too, I want to play with both of you."
Ye Xiu stepped out of Sun Zheping's now slack grip and began to move. His hips swung with the music and his eyes once again seem to glow under the lights as they remained trained on him and Sun Zheping in invitation. His elegant hands roamed all over his own body like a lover, as though he were imagining they were someone else's. Zhang Jiale was entranced.
It was like his brain turned off at that moment and his dick took over, as he and Sun Zheping both stepped toward him in a daze. Ye Xiu licked his lips in delight, and the sight of it went straight to his cock. Ye Xiu continued to dance to the beat as he positioned his ass right against Sun Zheping's crotch and grabbed at Zhang Jiale's hand to pull him closer--all the way until their cocks were only separated by the fabric of their pants.
"Holy fuck," Zhang Jiale couldn't help but whisper in arousal. They moved with the music as one, their breaths and skin mingling together in a hot mess. Sun Zheping thrust his hips forward with a sudden force, pushing into Ye Xiu's ass and right against Zhang Jiale's cock in chain reaction. It was almost as if Sun Zheping and Ye Xiu were cock to cock with him at the same time. His dick pulsed in his pants at the thought, hot and hard.
When he looked up at Sun Zheping, he saw his partner's heated gaze pointed straight at him, his narrowed eyes dark and face flushed from arousal. "Zh-zheping," Zhang Jiale panted, almost positive no one heard him over the deafening blast of music.
"C'mere," Sun Zheping all but snarled. Zhang Jiale leaned forward, and their lips met. It was like electric heat coursing through him, like a pleasant burn he wished would never go away. They deepened the kiss with Ye Xiu still sandwiched tightly between them.
He gasped in pleasure when he felt Ye Xiu bite the shell of his ear and pull down. Zhang Jiale broke off the kiss and panted out, "We should move."
Ye Xiu whined but slipped out of the Blood and Blossom sandwich when they both began to pull away. He grabbed Zhang Jiale and Sun Zheping's hands and said, "Take me to your hotel rooms."
They exited the club as quickly as they could, all three of them momentarily just breathing in the fresh midnight air. The walk back to their hotel was silent, and the unsaid words between them were so deafening, Zhang Jiale was surprised no one gave them more than a passing glance.
When the three of them entered the hotel elevator, Zhang Jiale belatedly realized they were finally alone. Ye Xiu's expression immediately darkened into that seductive smirk Zhang Jiale was quickly beginning to realize meant he was up to no good.
Ye Xiu approached Sun Zheping and brought an arm up, slowly threading his fingers through his dark hair as he lowered Sun Zheping's face toward his. They kissed with passion and heat, licking and biting. Zhang Jiale stepped toward Ye Xiu and wrapped an arm around his thin waist, and brought his other hand under his shirt.
Before he could do anything else, however, the elevator dinged its arrival to their floor, and they reluctantly broke apart. They stumbled into their room and jumped onto the bed, Ye Xiu sandwiched between him and Sun Zheping.
"Wait," Ye Xiu said as he wiggled between them and fished for something in his pocket. "I need to tell my team that I left early."
Zhang Jiale watched Ye Xiu pull up the Excellent Era group chat on QQ and turned to his back, facing the ceiling instead. He wasn't about to read over someone's shoulder, no matter how curious he was.
He lay there waiting, with the only sounds of their breathing in the room.
"You done yet?" Sun Zheping prodded Ye Xiu after a bit.
There was no answer.
Zhang Jiale exchanged confused looks with Sun Zheping and finally glanced back at Ye Xiu's phone. It was off.
"What the fuck are you doing, Ye Qiu," Zhang Jiale said. Then the man let out a soft growling noise--wait, was he snoring?
"Zheping, I think he fell asleep…"
Sun Zheping tried to shake him awake. "Ye Qiu, you fucker, wake the fuck up!"
He slept on without a care in the world.
"Fuck! I'm too sober for this shit," Sun Zheping yelled at the ceiling. Zhang Jiale silently agreed.
The mood was ruined, they were both mentally and physically tired and had a flight to catch the next day, so they decided to call it day. They would deal with it in the morning.
When Zhang Jiale woke up the next day, he immediately noticed he was being spooned by someone. In his half asleep daze, he assumed it was Sun Zheping, so he turned around to face him.
Instead of Sun Zheping, he was nose to nose with Ye Xiu.
Everything that had happened the night before rushed back to him, and he jumped out of the bed in shock, rubbing the back of his sore neck in slight panic. He and Sun Zheping had not only almost slept together, but also with God Ye . "Oh god, oh god oh god," Zhang Jiale muttered frantically and began pacing around his side of the hotel room.
Then he heard Ye Xiu sit up and let out an unrestrained yawn. "Ah, jeez, I must've drank too much last night."
Zhang Jiale stood before him, unsure of what to do. "Good morning?"
Ye Xiu looked up and stared at him without recognition for a long second. He turned around and spotted Sun Zheping laying in bed beside him. Ye Xiu's movement seemed to stir him awake, and they both watched his partner crack open his eyes and scramble out of the bed much like how Zhang Jiale had done earlier when he realized who was beside him.
"Good morning Jiale--what the fuck is Ye Qiu--oh god last night? Fuck, my head!" Sun Zheping said in one breath, one hand clutching his forehead as he stared at Ye Qiu in shock.
"Dazzling Hundred Blossoms and Blossoming Chaos, right?" Ye Xiu said with a smile, as though they hadn't just met in a club last night from trying to get drunk as fuck to forget about losing to the very man in front of him and ended up grinding right up against him and almost hooked up.
When neither Sun Zheping nor Zhang Jiale recovered quick enough to answer, Ye Xiu continued, "I just wanted to say that I truly do respect the teamwork you two have. It's undoubtedly the best in the pro circuit so far. It was fun playing against Hundred Blossoms in the finals this season."
Was he for real? "Y-you said that last night already. Verbatim. Were you messing with us this whole time?"
Ye Xiu looked surprised. "I did? Sorry, I don't remember what happened last night. I probably drank too much again."
Sun Zheping looked like he wanted to bang his head on the wall. "You don't remember anything ?"
He didn't even have the shame to look embarrassed as he pulled out a cigarette from nowhere and lit it with practiced ease. "I did something weird again didn't I? Sorry, sorry." Ye Xiu got out of the bed and fixed his hair and clothes briefly. "Anyway, I should go, my team is probably kind of worried about me now."
Zhang Jiale was so baffled by the situation, he hadn't managed to recover by the time Ye Xiu reached the door.
The man turned around and gave them a brief wave. "Well, I'll see you two next season then!" And then he left and shut the door with a final click.
There was a long moment of silence.
"What just happened." Sun Zheping said helplessly.
"I wish I knew..."
One thing Zhou Zekai had found out quickly after joining the pro circuit was that while he was technically in the same industry as the big name players, like Ye Xiu, Wang Jiexi, Yu Wenzhou and other such players, he would have little to virtually no chance to interact with any of them if they weren't on the same team. Not that he had wanted to at the time--well, not really , because he wouldn't know what to say to such Gods without making a fool out of himself.
He made it into the general pro player group chat after the All-Stars Rookie Challenge in his first year, but everyone was in there as far as he knew. It was pretty active, but it wasn't too common to see one of the top tier players chatting it up in there, besides maybe Huang Shaotian.
In his rookie year, he could admit that everyone was probably aware of him, but it was more of a "that rookie we should watch out for in the future" sort of impression. There was no way someone as high up as Ye Xiu even looked at his matches more than once or thought of him as an equal.
But by the end of his second year, he didn't know what happened. Somehow he was good enough to be acknowledged by other players and was gradually grouped with players he never thought he would ever stand next to. The first time Zhou Zekai heard an announcer say "powerhouses that influence their entire teams, like Ye Qiu and Zhou Zekai," he thought he would burst into flames just from hearing his name right next to the actual living legend.
By then, he had somehow been added to a lot more pro player group chats, which seemed to pop into existence for every small little thing that happened.
One chat that he was added into at around the beginning of his third year in the Alliance, season seven, was what he privately called the big kids chat. When Wang Jiexi invited him to that chat and he scrolled through the list of people in it, he felt like crying. Wang Jiexi, Ye Qiu, Huang Shaotian, Yu Wenzhou, Han Wenqing, Zhang Jiale, and so on. They were all Gods, legends, All-Stars, people who he had admired as a teen. It was almost like a coming-of-age moment for him in the industry, where he finally realized he was in a chat exclusively for players of that level.
He read every message in that chat, despite almost never speaking in it. He felt starstruck, tongue-twisted even through his screen at just the people he was in the chat with. He would always respond when someone mentioned him--although it admittedly sometimes took him up to ten minutes to draft out a response he deemed adequate, but other than that, he remained quiet.
All the dirty gossip thrown around in the general pro chat had nothing on the big kids chat. Trash talk levels were always at a constant high, and players loved to bring up old grudges, scandals and embarrassing, stupid moments with each other as though they were airing out dirty laundry like no tomorrow. It was incredible.
He learned things about his idols he never imagined he would ever learn. One such thing was about Ye Xiu: never ever ever EVER drink with him. It was an open secret amongst the top players, even though Zhou Zekai could never figure out why. He was so curious, he had a rare moment and came out of his shell to inquire why in the chat, but all he got was various versions of "you don't want to know."
One fateful day in mid-season seven, he finally found out why.
He had returned to his room after a stressful match against Excellent Era. Samsara had barely won, but he hadn't managed to beat Ye Xiu in their 1v1 match. So the moment he got back, he logged onto Glory and started practicing. After an hour or two, he finally let go of his grip on the mouse and pushed himself away from his keyboard. He idly checked his phone, scrolling through the list of notifications when he came across a private message from One Autumn Leaf. His heart jumped to his throat and his thumb hovered over the notification like a guillotine over someone's neck, hanging in the air in limbo.
He had never PMed Ye Xiu before. Well, he had, but at most it was niceties, like "good game" or "good luck in our match tomorrow." Ye Xiu was still too senior for him; there was no way he was interested in having a conversation in Zhou Zekai--right?
With a shaky finger, he opened the notification.
One Autumn Leaf: Xiao Zhou cpme play witg mee
Zhou Zekai stared at his phone in incomprehension. Had someone stole God Ye's phone and sent this to him?
Cloud Piercer: ?
He waited for a response, relocating to his bed to simply stare at the screen. After about three minutes, the One Autumn Leaf is typing… appeared. He swallowed in anticipation, not sure of what to expect.
One Autumn Leaf: i liek you lots k just cpme hrre
There was a pause, and then:
One Autumn Leaf shared you his location.
At this point, Zhou Zekai was almost positive someone had stole his phone. It didn't make any sense otherwise. Against better judgement, he clicked the location, which redirected him to his maps app. It was a bar, not too far from Samsara's stadium.
Then it clicked in his head.
Cloud Piercer: Qian bei, are you drinking?
One Autumn Leaf: yea hpwd you knowq
One Autumn Leaf: be hrre in 15 minutes!! Im waitng fpr ypu
Zhou Zekai stared at the last message, suddenly realizing he had a lot less time to figure out what was going on. He turned to the first person he thought of who could help him with this.
Cloud Piercer: help
Vaccaria: What's wrong?
He took a screenshot of his exchange with Ye Xiu and switched back to his conversation with Wang Jiexi.
Cloud Piercer sent an image.
Vaccaria: Give me a second.
Zhou Zekai curled up in bed, staring at his phone as he waited. His heartbeat was faster than it should, but he was in a situation here.
You have been invited to Dealing with Ye Qiu
He quickly accepted the group chat invitation, half in awe and half in panic of the name.
Vaccaria: Xiao Zhou is in a somewhat sticky situation.
Zhou Zekai resent the screenshot in the group chat.
Troubling Rain: OMG ahahaha is this for real?? I'm so sorry Xiao Zhou hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha good luck
Desert Dust: Ignore him. Seriously.
Cloud Piercer: Why is drinking with qian bei bad?
Hundred Blossoms: DONT GO. JUST DONT
Desert Dust: I promise you, you're better off not knowing.
Swoksaar: @Troubling Rain could you be any more useless…
Swoksaar: @Piercing Cloud my advice to you: turn off your phone now. Go watch a movie. Sleep early. Do whatever you want, just don't go to that location.
Troubling Rain: @Swoksaar @Swoksaar @Swoksaar you're only making it worse for him
Troubling Rain: @Desert Dust @Hundred Blossoms @Swoksaar you've made him even more curious now
Troubling Rain: @Cloud Piercer , sometimes in life you simply need to experience it yourself to understand. :)
Hundred Blossoms: DON'T LISTEN TO HIM @Cloud Piercer. he only wants to corrupt innocents like you so that more people will suffer through the same thing as he did
Hundred Blossoms: and as someone who has also
Hundred Blossoms: suffered
Hundred Blossoms: the same thing, i'm telling you DON'T GO
Desert Dust: ^^^^^^^
Vaccaria: Zhang Jiale is right, Xiao Zhou.
Vaccaria: @Dancing Rain is Ye Qiu with you right now?
Windy Rain: if mumu doesn't respond, then 100% she's with him now
Windy Rain: Xiao Zhou~~
Cloud Piercer: ?
Windy Rain: you should go~
Desert Dust: You…!
Cloud Piercer: @Troubling Rain is right. I am very curious
Zhou Zekai looked at the time. Ten minutes had passed. He still had time to make it to the bar, but after seeing the other players' reactions, he was a little more cautious what might happen with Ye Xiu there, but also a lot more curious.
But he didn't know when he would get another chance like this with someone he looked up to again. He shoved his phone in his pocket, turning off vibration mode to quiet down the notifications and left his room. He would go and see why everyone was so scared of drinking with Ye Xiu.
When he stepped into the bar, he immediately want to turn around and leave. It just wasn't his scene: everyone there was in huge groups, talking and laughing uproariously with beet red faces from drinking too much. He didn't even know where to begin looking for God Ye.
Much to his relief, he didn't have to wait long before he heard his name called. "Xiao Zhou! Over here!"
It was Su Mucheng, who had stuck her head out of one of the booths a little further inside and waved him over with a friendly smile. He was equal parts intimidated and nervous as he walked over.
There was only the two of them there, sitting across from each other in the booth. They had an alarming amount of empty beer bottles and a half empty plate of popcorn chicken on the table.
Ye Xiu looked about the same as he always did, hair ruffled but not messy, and his gaze amused. Zhou Zekai didn't know how he did it, but Ye Xiu always managed to look like he was smirking, even with just his eyes, and it wasn't any different now.
"Qian bei?"
"Xiao Zhou," Ye Xiu greeted with an small upturn of his lips. "Sit here."
He sat obediently next to Ye Xiu and placed his hands in his lap, unsure of what to do with them otherwise. "You drank a lot," he said, eyeing the empty cans littered across the table.
Su Mucheng laughed, cheeks flushed prettily as she slammed her beer on the table. "No, Xiao Zhou, you've got it all wrong." She waved at the mess on the table, proud. "This is all me! Ye Qiu's still on his first bottle!"
Zhou Zekai didn't know whether he should have been alarmed or relieved. He didn't know if it was healthy for anyone to drink that much, but if Ye Xiu was still on his first beer, he probably wasn't drunk then. He didn't seem drunk at all, at the very least, so he was safe from whatever traumatizing experiences the others had with an inebriated Ye Xiu.
In hindsight, he realized he had jumped to conclusions much too soon.
"Drink water?" Zhou Zekai had suggested to her in concern, pushing the cup of water on the table towards her.
She smiled, shaking her head. "I'm fine, Xiao Zhou, thank you for worrying though." Su Mucheng rested her chin in her palm against the table, and her smile suddenly melted into something goofier. She giggled, reaching across the table and pinching Zhou Zekai's cheek. He tried not to wince, but she didn't seem to realize the strength her pro-gamer fingers had. "You're so cute! So young and adorable and sweet."
He didn't know what got the other players spooked about Ye Xiu drunk, but he thought Su Mucheng drunk was plenty scary already.
"Don't you think so, Ye Qiu? Isn't our Xiao Zhou cute?"
Zhou Zekai pulled away from her vicious fingers and rubbed his cheek.
"Yes," Ye Xiu said next to him, amused, "very adorable."
Zhou Zekai stared at one of the fallen beer cans in front of him, telling himself that the heat in his cheeks were just from Su Mucheng's rough pinching. There was a brief silence between them that Zhou Zekai belatedly realized he should try to fill, since it was his turn to reply.
Just as he opened his mouth to say something, Su Mucheng stood. "Ahh, I think I might've drank too much. Gotta go to the bathroom real quick…"
And then she was gone.
"Xiao Zhou," Ye Xiu said, his deep voice drawing out his name and making his insides squirm. "How come you've barely looked at me since you got here?"
Zhou Zekai shifted in his seat and remained silent, but slowly turned his head to look at his Qian Bei. His tongue felt three times its normal size and his cheeks felt like they were on fire. There was something in Ye Xiu's voice that made him flush, taut with a heightened sensitivity.
Ye Xiu's lips drew into a smirk, and his eyes sharpened as his lids lowered. There was a gleam his dark eyes full of meaning that he wasn't sure he wanted to decipher.
"Good boy," he praised. His smooth voice washed over Zhou Zekai and his spine stiffened even further as his heart thudded against his ribs.
"Qi-qian bei?" His voice came out higher than he was expecting.
Ye Xiu leaned in closer and closer and Zhou Zekai's heart pounded louder and louder. Ye Xiu tilted his head, eyes still locked on him as his lips ghosted his. Zhou Zekai was numb as they breathed each others breaths. The heat in his gaze burned him, spreading like wildfire across every surface of his skin.
Then he leaned back, and Xiao Zhou marginally relaxed for half a second before Ye Xiu swooped in once again, bypassing his lips and hovering just before his ear.
"You like it when I talk like this, don't you," he intoned, voice deep and smooth as his breath tickled his ear. "Xiao. Zhou."
He couldn't resist a shiver, his entire body trembling from just the sound of his voice. He was so tense, so tightly wounded that even a single touch would make him unravel.
Suddenly there was a tongue against his ear deftly running along the shell of his earlobe. He sat ramrod straight, frozen yet burning as the heat in his lower half intensified.
Zhou Zekai gasped when Ye Xiu bit down on his ear--and hard , shocking him as the tight string in him finally snapped. He bonelessly collapsed in place, and only until he felt an arm wrap around his waist did he realize he had fallen toward Ye Xiu. His eyes had fluttered shut and his head had ducked into the nape of Ye Xiu's smooth neck. He was slightly out of breath, letting out short little pants--which made sense since he had forgotten to breathe at some point.
Ye Xiu chuckled, and simply the sound of his voice made Zhou Zekai shiver. "You are so adorable, Xiao Zhou."
His eyes flew open at the sudden pressure against his crotch under the table, and he couldn't help but let out a soft, wanton sound of exclamation in response. "Getting hard from just my voice, hm?"
The hand cupped against his pants tightened vindictively, and Zhou Zekai thrust out his chest with a louder cry, accidently knocking his torso against the edge of the table.
"Naughty boy," Ye Xiu whispered in his ear. Zhou Zekai let out a short whimper at his liquid smooth voice. "Do you want everyone to find out what I'm doing to you? That you're hard from just hearing me talk?"
Zhou Zekai shook his head, eyes watering from a mixture of arousal and helplessness.
The hand tightened even more, to the point where he couldn't tell if he was hurting from pain or arousal--or more likely, both. He let out the loudest sound yet: a half strangled, dirty moan that he never thought could come out of him.
"You sure about that?"
"Qi-qian bei, please…"
"Please what?" He sounded so amused, so in control.
"P-please!" Zhou Zekai didn't know what he wanted, he only knew he wanted whatever Ye Xiu was willing to give.
Suddenly the pressure against his crotch disappeared, and the weight supporting him went slack. The absence of touch was jarring, and Zhou Zekai's eyes snapped open. He mustered the strength to sit up, and by doing so, he accidently shouldered Ye Xiu away from him.
He managed to catch Ye Xiu from slamming against the wall despite his confusion. "Qian bei?!"
The older man had fallen unconscious, mouth open and eyes shut as he slumbered on without a clue.
Zhou Zekai sat there with his hard-on that didn't seem to be calming down anytime soon in shocked silence, still trying to reorient himself with everything that had just happened.
Half an hour later, after an apologetic but horrifyingly knowing Su Mucheng and a quiet, reflective walk back home, Zhou Zekai finally collapsed onto his bed--notably with his lonesome self--and pulled out his phone.
There was 24 mentions of him in the Dealing with Ye Xiu chat, and 100+ new messages, half of them demanding him to update them on his status and the other half very sympathetic.
All he could conclude in the chat was this:
Cloud Piercer: Qian bei drunk is very cruel