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There’s no one else in sight, but Tang Lici is certain that he’s not alone.
He had assumed that he could enjoy an impulsive midnight stroll without interruption, surprised to find anybody else still out so late. The moonlight over the towering cliffs casts vast shadows, and he’s spent enough time with Shen Langhun to become attuned to the sensation when a person hides amongst them. The subtle vibration that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The eerie sense of being watched.
As he strays further from the path to stand at the foot of the cliffs, the feeling only grows stronger. When Tang Lici asks Shen Langhun to carry out a mission on his behalf, he moves swiftly and does not linger. Shen Langhun is not here, but someone else definitely is.
“Fang Louzhu,” Tang Lici says, a shot in the dark he hopes will find the right target. “How skilled you are at concealing yourself in the shadows.”
The energy shifts and Fang Pingzhai appears immediately in front of him, standing close enough to him that he’s only just out of arm’s reach.
“But not skilled enough to escape your notice, Tang Kezun. Very good. Very good.”
Even somewhat prepared for it, the abruptness of Fang Pingzhai’s arrival sends a jolt of adrenaline through him, along with an instinctive, split-second urge to fight or to flee that he’s all too careful not to reveal. Instead, Tang Lici leans himself casually against the wall behind him and eyes him suspiciously, ignoring the way his pulse still pounds in his throat.
Given their earlier conversation, his proximity isn’t unexpected. Tang Lici also can’t say that it’s entirely unwelcome: for all that he despises this fool and much that he stands for, there’s a certain charm in conversing with him just to see where it goes. A tight-wound tension in the scant distance between them.
Just as a person might relish the press of cold metal against their overheated skin despite the threat of the blade at their throat, he has always felt that the differences between hating or liking a person — between danger’s thrill and purer forms of pleasure — aren’t always easily distinguished. Fang Pingzhai is at least interesting, and Tang Lici can forgive many a flaw in pursuit of genuine intrigue.
“Why is it,” Tang Lici asks him, making no attempt at hiding his contempt, “that wherever I go today, I find you?”
Fang Pingzhai draws his eyes very obviously down the length of Tang Lici’s body and back up again, clearly amused.
“It’s predestined,” he says, smiling broadly. “The will of the Heavens is not for us to question.”
Tang Lici scoffs.
“Oh? And what past misdeeds must I have done, that fate saw fit to put you in my path?”
“Would you like to talk about your misdeeds?” Fang Pingzhai asks smoothly, moving closer. “From what I’ve heard, there are many. It might take us some time.”
“Mm. We should discuss all the good you’ve done instead, Carefree-and-Unworried Fang Louzhu,” Tang Lici suggests. “That won’t take us nearly as long.”
Fang Pingzhai puts one hand against the wall alongside him and leans in very close. His breath gusts hot against Tang Lici’s ear, which does nothing to calm his racing pulse, albeit for entirely different reasons.
“Tang Kezun’s tongue is as vicious and sharp as his teeth. How exciting.”
Exactly how far Fang Pingzhai intends to take this game of escalation, it’s difficult to tell, but Tang Lici means to find out and has no intention of being the one to back down first. He places his palm against Fang Pingzhai’s chest, right over the thud of his heartbeat.
“I already told you that a fox demon can dig out a heart to get to the truth,” he says. “I wonder — why does this heart beat so quickly?”
It’s clear Fang Pingzhai has no desire to yield either. Emboldened, he puts both hands on Tang Lici’s waist, so brazen and nonchalant it’s as if Tang Lici himself had invited it. Tang Lici glances down at them, then meets Fang Pingzhai’s gaze with obvious approval.
“Tang Kezun,” says Fang Pingzhai. “Don’t you know you have that effect on people? You fascinate me.”
Tang Lici curls his fingers into the front of his robes and tugs him into himself to bring their hips fully flush. It feels good, the full-body contact heightening his arousal with the promise of more to come, and it puts a spark of something heated in Fang Pingzhai’s eyes.
“Tang Kezun is so eager. Does this mean you enjoy my being here more than you were willing to admit?”
Tang Lici merely smirks at him, slipping a hand between them to skim over Fang Pingzhai’s inner thigh and his clothed cock until his breath catches. His body sways into Tang Lici’s touch, chasing the sensation.
“I think you might be useful,” Tang Lici says, one eyebrow raised. “Right up until the moment you’re not.”
Fang Pingzhai evidently doesn’t know quite what to make of that. No matter: a man uncertain is one easily guided. Tang Lici tips his head back to expose his neck and entwines his fingers in Fang Pingzhai’s hair to direct his mouth there, rewarding him with a breathy gasp when he applies himself properly.
When Fang Pingzhai fumbles between them to untie the sash at Tang Lici’s waist he allows it, letting him take the lead for now just to see what happens next. Wasting no time, Fang Pingzhai spits into his palm and slides it beneath his waistband to stroke him off. It’s not quite slick enough, his grip weaker than he’d prefer, but his palm is hot and the pull of his hand adequate enough that Tang Lici allows him to persist.
“Tang Kezun,” Fang Pingzhai murmurs against the sensitive skin just above his collar. “Aren’t you afraid that someone will see us out here like this?”
The chances of anyone being out after nightfall and stumbling across them here, hidden in the shadows and off the central path, seems unlikely enough not to concern himself with it.
“There’s no one here,” Tang Lici says. “And if there were, they wouldn’t dare interrupt me when I’m so clearly in the middle of something else.”
“The middle? Tang Kezun, we’ve hardly even started.”
Fang Pingzhai is apparently incapable of conversing with him and pleasuring him at the same time. He keeps stopping and starting awkwardly, his fingers curled around his cock too firmly to be a calculated tease yet too gentle to satisfy. When Tang Lici cants his hips into it, trying to take what Fang Pingzhai is so frustratingly failing to give him, it becomes only slightly more bearable.
“Fang Louzhu, I truly admire your courage,” Tang Lici says, caressing the curve of Fang Pingzhai’s hip and looking at him through eyes half-lidded. “You’re always so willing to put yourself in situations in which you’ll inevitably disappoint me.”
Fang Pingzhai looks briefly insulted before he brushes it off, evidently oblivious to his own uselessness.
“Disappoint the esteemed and extraordinary Tang Kezun?” he gasps. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“You’re already disappointing me,” Tang Lici says viciously, seizing his forearm and digging his nails in hard enough to hurt. Getting a flimsy-wristed hand job with no discernible rhythm thanks to Fang Pingzhai’s inability to multitask is annoying him more than anything he’s said or done so far tonight. It can’t truly be the worst thing this man has ever done to him or the people he cares about, but somehow in this exact moment it feels like it might be. “Tighten your grip and stroke me properly. You’re not good at this.”
For several seconds, Fang Pingzhai does nothing except look startled and endearingly pathetic at being told off, but he is at least capable of following instructions just as soon as he’s recovered the ability to function. To Tang Lici’s relief, when he pays attention to what he’s doing and starts seeing to him with brisker, firmer strokes, everything improves significantly.
“Tang Kezun likes rough handling,” Fang Pingzhai observes, apparently pleased with himself now that he’s elevated his skills beyond tolerably mediocre. “How interesting.”
“Sometimes,” Tang Lici agrees. Fang Pingzhai’s thumb skims over the head of his cock, right over the slit in a way that leaves him breathless. “I like a lot of things.”
“Tang Kezun. Do fox demons fuck on all fours?”
Tang Lici can’t help but laugh at the sheer unexpectedness of it. He has to give Fang Pingzhai at least some credit: of all the things that people have ever said in their pursuit of him, from the persuasive to the downright ridiculous, that question is a first.
“Of course,” Tang Lici says, delicately drawing his fingertips down over the exposed skin at Fang Pingzhai’s throat. The rhythm of Fang Pingzhai’s hand falters before he quickly corrects himself and starts stroking him again in earnest. “Outdoors,” Tang Lici continues, “with both my knees in the dirt if I think you’d make it worth my while.” Fang Pingzhai swallows, looking positively ravenous at the prospect. “Though you should know,” Tang Lici adds with a sharp-edged smile, “we’re also renowned for lying.”
It takes a moment for Fang Pingzhai to process this, and when he does, he throws his head back in laughter. He also withdraws his hand, which is wildly frustrating given he’d finally learned how to touch him properly.
“Very clever,” he says. “Tang Kezun, you’re too funny.”
As Fang Pingzhai takes him by the waist again, pressing up against him greedily, Tang Lici can feel how hard he is against his hip. Fang Pingzhai keeps his hold on him with one hand and braces himself against the wall with the other so he can grind up against him. This he’s surprisingly good at, the pressure against Tang Lici’s cock and the back-and-forth drag of his clothing addictive and intense. Pleased, Tang Lici pulls him into a kiss, slipping his tongue into his mouth as a reward.
Fang Pingzhai kisses in a way that’s unexpectedly gentle in contrast to the impatient momentum of his hips. It feels like he’s holding back, restraining himself from letting go and giving him something more, so Tang Lici tugs his bottom lip between his teeth and gets a desperate sort of sound in return.
Panting, Fang Pingzhai hooks a hand beneath one of Tang Lici’s thighs to haul it up around his hip, fully pinning him between the cliff wall and his body. The change in angle and the weight of Fang Pingzhai’s hips between his thighs as he ruts against him feel blissfully good in combination.
“Come back to my room with me,” Fang Pingzhai pleads, his eyes beseeching. “Let me fuck you in my bed.”
Tang Lici can’t deny that it’s a tempting thought. Fang Pingzhai keeps grinding up into him with these stuttering little thrusts like he’s dying to get inside him, and it’s getting him worked up in a way that’s unexpectedly intoxicating. Still, another outcome for this twisted game between them remains a far more alluring prospect.
“Is that what you want?” Tang Lici says softly, stroking his cheek; he’s so warm, burning up with arousal despite the cool nighttime air.
Fang Pingzhai nods and Tang Lici pulls him into another kiss, as much to stifle the urge to laugh at him as anything else. The more convinced Fang Pingzhai is that he’s about to get everything he wants, the more satisfying it will be to deny him every bit of it.
Tang Lici is close to finishing now, determined to chase it down. As enjoyable as this has been, he has no intention of dragging it out any longer.
He seizes a handful of Fang Pingzhai’s robes at his waist to keep him close, rolling his hips up to meet him and forcing him into a firmer, faster rhythm. He brushes his mouth against Fang Pingzhai’s, angling his body to ensure he’s getting the brunt of the friction right where he needs it most and Fang Pingzhai will get frustratingly little at all.
It’s enough to get him there and Tang Lici comes with a sigh of satisfaction, tipping his head back against the wall and closing his eyes as he rides it out. He’ll sleep well tonight, he decides, feeling thoroughly warmed through and content. He needed this.
When he opens his eyes again, he straightens up and pushes Fang Pingzhai — now kissing his neck again and clumsily trying to get off against his hip — firmly enough that he stumbles back a little.
“You can leave,” Tang Lici says mildly, fixing his sleeves.
He doesn’t bother to look at him as he says it, focused on straightening out his clothing and tidying his hair enough to suffice for the short walk back to his rooms so he can bathe the mess from himself and ready himself for bed.
“What?” Fang Pingzhai says, staring at him in wide-eyed horror. He moves forward, tries to put his hands on him again, but Tang Lici neatly steps aside to avoid his advances. “Tang Lici —”
“I finished already. If you didn’t, that’s your problem,” Tang Lici says. “Louzhu. You of all people should know not to outstay your welcome.”
“But —” Fang Pingzhai says, trailing off forlornly.
Tang Lici looks him over, tutting. He steps up to him once more so they’re toe to toe, straightening Fang Pingzhai’s collar for him and smoothing his rumpled clothing.
“You came to my new home uninvited,” he murmurs against Fang Pingzhai’s ear, “a thief with another man’s stolen name in your mouth. Fang Pingzhai, tell me. What did you think was going to happen?”
Fang Pingzhai gives him a stupefied look, opens his mouth and — much to Tang Lici’s relief — closes it again without saying anything at all. He’s heard quite enough of his nonsense for one day already.
Tang Lici pats him on shoulder with a pitying smile and turns to leave with his head held high. Sometimes, he thinks, it’s only right to take pleasure in one’s small victories.