Chapter 84: Don't have the tables turned on you

Xi Zirui feels as if he's walking on quicksand in this world. 

Any misstep could sever the delicate connection brewing between them. 

But he doesn't think he's imagining the heat behind Han Yu's eyes.

Then again, it could only be wishful thinking making him see romantic intention where there's only filial piety. It's not as if he understands the intricacies of a master/disciple relationship to know for certain what constitutes overstepping or not.

He hears a chime followed by a deep sigh. "Host is thinking too much."

She might be right about that. The aphrodisiac's effects are still wreaking havoc through his body. 

He wants nothing more than to stop thinking and just let go.

Han Yu's hands would feel so soothing on his skin. What is there to worry about beyond that?

Letting himself sink further into the soapy water, Xi Zirui turns his neck to the side and sighs. "Han Yu may do as he wishes."

Han Yu's pupils shrink to the size of pinpoints inside his irises, but his hands are steady when he brings the washcloth to Xi Zirui's skin.

His first few passes are gentle and tentative, just spreading the sudsy water across Xi Zirui's arm, carelessly bent over the tub's wooden rim.

Xi Zirui is riveted by the red peek of Han Yu's tongue over his bottom lip. 

He wishes Han Yu would replace the washcloth with it. Lave his skin with kisses instead of soap.

Han Yu moves upwards from the span of Xi Zirui's arms up into his nape, bare with all of Xi Zirui's long hair pinned on top of his head.

Instead of running the washcloth over the pale swath of skin, he uses his thumbs to work the soap into Xi Zirui's skin and massage the tense knots of his spine.

Xi Zirui can't help the breathless gasp that leaves his lips at Han Yu's tender kneading.

"Am I hurting Shizun?" Han Yu asks, his breath tickling the shell of Xi Zirui's ear.

This shameless disciple. Did Xi Zirui sound like he was being hurt?

"Han Yu knows he isn't," Xi Zirui admonishes. "He should know better than to tease his Shizun."

With how Han Yu is positioned behind him, it's hard for Xi Zirui to know, but he bets Han Yu is smirking.

He's beginning to come to the realization that he might have been played.

Was Han Yu's shyness all an act? But why?

A chime. "Sometimes the obvious answer is the right one."

What is that supposed to mean? Xi Zirui hates Ni Ni so much, one day he'll find a way to scrap her for parts.

She snickers. "That would be hard, and unwise. Although incredibly valuable for Traditional Medicine doctors."

What do Traditional Medicine doctors want with circuitboards and hardrives?

Sometimes talking with Ni Ni is like going in circles.

Although, he can't help thinking that for all her bluster she's trying to tell him something.

Could it be, that like the previous world, things here are also spiraling outside the script Ni Ni expected?

"As always, Host is very smart," she says, but it doesn't sound like praise.

That explains her silence, but not Han Yu's ever-changing attitude. 

Is he trying to test Xi Zirui?

Done with Xi Zirui's nape he's now moving on towards the front of his body, bringing the washcloth around his neck and trailing it down his chest.

One of his downwards passes skirts perilously close to Xi Zirui's nipple.

The aphrodisiac is still wreaking its path of destruction, and he has to bite on his lower lip not to let out a truly shameless moan.

"What is my disciple doing?" Xi Zirui asks, his voice coming out in little staccato pants.

When Han Yu next speaks, it's directly into Xi Zirui's ear. "This disciple waited a long time for his Shizun to join him."

"What?" 

Xi Zirui tries to turn around to face Han Yu, but Han Yu's hands hold down his forearms against the sides of the tub, keeping him in place with his back turned.

He struggles in Han Yu's hold, to little effect.

"Unhand this master!" Xi Zirui growls, trying to pry his arms out, wondering if Han Yu has lost his mind.

He's going to teach him a lesson he won't forget for the disrespect. He still remembers how to handle the bratty Han Yu of the first world just fine.

Han Yu brings his lips an hairsbreadth away from Xi Zirui's nape. "This disciple won't."

"Han Yu!"

"Xi Zirui," Han Yu says, carefully enunciating every character of Xi Zirui's name, as if he's been waiting a long time for the opportunity. "This disciple has waited a long time to finally meet you."

Xi Zirui's heart comes to a stop inside his chest, his tongue gone numb in his slack mouth.

Han Yu sighs and runs his nose up into Xi Zirui's hairline, inhaling the hair at the back of his head deeply. "Ever since he was a boy, this disciple has had the oddest dreams about Shizun."

"What-what dreams?" Xi Zirui asks, his heart has resumed pumping and is now going into overdrive, racing in his chest like a purebreed horse let loose on grassy plains.

Han Yu smirks, sketching the shape of it against Xi Zirui's skin. "It would leave Shizun embarrassed to hear about them. Most of them are spring dreams of the most vulgar nature."

Does Han Yu have to say that with such a silky voice, tinged with the barest hint of desperation he's trying to hide behind raw want?

It's that note of yearning, the ragged edge of it, in each of Han Yu's exhales that is threatening to put an end to Xi Zirui's already fraying self-control.

"But regardless of how little clothing Shizun wore, or how odd our surroundings, one thing was always the same in every dream," Han Yu says, letting the edge of his white teeth scrape Xi Zirui's earlobe, "Shizun was always filled with warmth. Even when he teased me, I knew how much Shizun cared for me, how much I was valued."

Xi Zirui sucks on a shuddering breath, his blunt nails digging into the sides of the tub as Han Yu continues to whisper killing blows into his ear.

"But that was just in the dreams," Han Yu says, his voice dipping with emotion. "The beautiful Shizun I saw everyday was as cold and distant as a snowy mountain peak. Forever out of my reach. Only in my dreams did he open his arms and legs for me."

Xi Zirui sputters. Vulgar as always.

He can't believe he bought the innocent, shy disciple act. Han Yu will always be a menace.

His heart seizes painfully with fondness. 

"Shameless disciple," Xi Zirui says, because it's the truth, and because he loves this side of Han Yu too.

"No, it's Shizun who is shameless," Han Yu growls, this time biting down lightly on Xi Zirui's earlobe and making him hiss. "Tormenting me in my dreams, filling me with fire at night, and treating me so coldly during the day. How will Shizun make amends?"

Xi Zirui scoffs and raises his chin haughtily. "This master will do nothing." 

Han Yu clicks his tongue, amused. "Shizun doesn't need to pretend. This disciple knows he's no longer the cold, callous master who tormented this one's days," his fingers tighten over Xi Zirui's arms. "He's the Shizun of my dreams, now."

Bastard. Always saying the kind of words that makes Xi Zirui's heart race.

"How does Han Yu know that?" Xi Zirui asks, he's curious about how much Han Yu remembers of their previous lives.

"This disciple has suspected ever since Shizun returned earlier from secluded cultivation. He just had to make sure."

Han Yu's ability to smirk with his words is something at once endearing and aggravating.

Xi Zirui lets his head drop against the crook of Han Yu's shoulder, almost startling him out of his cocky display.

He twists his neck around so that his lips are almost brushing Han Yu's chin when he speaks, "What does Han Yu think his dreams mean?"

Han Yu's long lashes cast shadows on his smooth cheeks. "I think they mean Shizun and I are soulmates, bound together by the red thread of fate," he says, almost bashfully.

His eyes flick towards Xi Zirui's, his gaze unwavering, as if he's showing his vulnerable underbelly to Xi Zirui and trusting him not to strike. "All my life, what I've always wanted was to hold Shizun in my arms."

"My shameless disciple presumes this master wants the same things as him," Xi Zirui says, looking up into Han Yu's humid eyes.

"This disciple knows the Gods wouldn't give him the Shizun of his dreams if it didn't mean the two of us weren't meant to be," Han Yu says.

Xi Zirui laughs. "My disciple thinks he's favored by the Gods," he shakes his head. "He's not only shameless, but arrogant too."

Han Yu returns Xi Zirui's amused smile. "How can this disciple be shown visions of his soulmate and not be favored?"

"What if the Gods are playing a cruel trick on you?"

Isn't that what Gods do? Xi Zirui doesn't believe in them, but that's what he's heard.

Han Yu meets his smirk with a frown.

His hands finally let go of Xi Zirui's arms, who thinks his words upset him, except moments later Han Yu is taking off his robe, inner robe, and jumping inside the bathtub with Xi Zirui, splashing water all over the wooden floor.

He boxes in Xi Zirui against the edge of the tub, his sharp eyebrows drawn in concentration over limpid eyes. 

"This disciple has endured a cold and lonely life, but in his dreams saw the promise of future happiness. If Shizun doesn't feel the same way, he need only say so, and this disciple will never bother him again, but please, don't mock this sad existence's only comfort."

The earnestness of his words drives a knife through Xi Zirui's chest. He can scarcely stand the wavering of Han Yu's bottom lip and the redness of his eyes.

He regrets the glibness of his words immediately. 

There's nothing else he can do to make things right but wrap his arms around Han Yu's neck and bring their lips together.

As soon as their lips touch it's as if as all the intensity of the aphrodisiac, somewhat banked by the warm water and Han Yu's touch rears back up. It courses through Xi Zirui's veins and leaves a path of devastation in its wake.

Han Yu makes little whimpers into their kiss, as if he can't believe it's something he finally gets to experience.

His big hands are clumsy on Xi Zirui's skin, wanting to hold on to all of him at once.

"Shizun, Shizun, I want you so much," he says, nipping at Xi Zirui's chin. "Say you want me too."

"I-"

A loud knock outside their door makes his next words dry up in his throat.

Their eyes meet in mutual panic. They can't afford to be caught like this, either by Blood Crane disciples who think they're someone else, or by Li Siqi who is a disciple of a righteous immortal cultivation sect and will be scandalized by their perversion.

Han Yu's solution is to take a deep breath and disappear beneath the water's surface.

Always leaving Xi Zirui to handle the fallout. Typical.