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It reminds him of that afternoon that seems so long ago now, when Wen Xiao sat on her swing– back when he didn't realize the roiling mess inside his gut was not hatred, but a different feeling altogether.
It is an ugly beast, those feelings, and every so often it rears its ugly head inside Zhuo Yichen. It takes his thoughts without asking, and twists them into things he will barely recognize as his own afterwards. In the moment they still feel like his own thoughts, and the jealousy of not being the one receiving Zhao Yuanzhou's attention eats him up. All of that seems ridiculous, when they fall in bed later, fall asleep side by side later, wake up together when the sun has poked her rays far enough into the bedroom to wake even Zhao Yuanzhou.
He walked away from dinner angry, angry for no reason, angry to see Zhao Yuanzhou sharing the tastiest bits of food with Wen Xiao, with Pei-daren, with everyone except with Yichen. Now, sitting down in the night-quiet garden behind the hall, Yichen feels ridiculous. They are his friends! But something inside him hisses, and whispers that Zhao Yuanzhou should be his, should only look at him –
"If you keep frowning like that your face will stay that way," a demonic voice lilts next to his ear, and Zhuo Yichen jumps near out of his skin.
"I wasn't frowning," he frowns, denial falling easily from his lips.
"No?" Zhao Yuanzhou pokes a long finger at his forehead, and drapes himself over Yichen's shoulders. "Then what do humans call this?"
"I was…"
"Yes?"
How can he explain it to a demon, when he can barely explain it to himself? It makes no sense, and now and every previous time he sees that afterwards, but he has not yet found a way to stop the beast in his chest from wanting to keep the beast lounging against his back to himself.
Instead of looking for words he doesn't know, he twists towards Zhao Yuanzhou, a hand on his neck to keep the demon while his human perch shifts. The kiss he bites against that infernal smirk is not a nice one, teeth first and tongue second, taking no time to sooth the stings. Zhao Yuanzhou doesn't even try to keep his balance, but lets himself fall forward until he is practically lying in Zhuo Yichen's lap. Annoyingly, this makes it hard to kiss him properly– amazingly, this lets Zhuo Yichen admire the way his lips have swollen under the assault, red and glistening and abused. Zhao Yuanzhou's tongue darts out to feel at a particularly tender spot, and then glances up at Yichen like he doesn't know exactly what he is doing.
"Your friends were concerned for you, Xiao Zhuo-daren," the demon smirks up at him. He cannot be comfortable like this, but he makes no attempt to move away.
"That's very kind of them," he looks away from the sight before him. The words sound angry even to his own ears, but he means them quite earnestly: it is kind of them, and Zhuo Yichen is not so sure he deserves their kindness just now.
Zhao Yuanzhou reaches out, and turns Zhuo Yichen's face back towards himself: "I was concerned." Yichen clamps his mouth shut, stopping himself from saying something scathing like 'were you ?' or 'no need '. The great demon seems to read the words behind his eyes anyway, and Yichen quickly averts his eyes.
"I was," the demon hums. He lets his hand fall to Yichen's robe, adjusting the already perfect outer layer, running his hand distractingly across the fabric that covers his chest. "You left before I could give you anything." It takes Zhuo Yichen several moments to remember what he might be talking about. Right, dinner! Why did that seem so important before? It feels ridiculous now.
"So I came here to bring you your treat," a beatific smile lights up Zhao Yuanzhou's face, and underneath the suspicion that he is up to something (and when is he not), Yichen is moved. The demon came all the way back here, leaving the others and his own dinner, just to bring Yichen his… A surprisingly touching gesture from someone whose reputation for evil is quite ancient.
Zhuo Yichen looks around to where presumably Zhao Yuanzhou has left his dinner, only to see nothing. Too late he notices the errant fingers have started undoing the buttons on his outer robe, the demons other hand tugging at his belt, and he looks down at the down to ask– but the question dies on his lips when he sees the demon's smirk, lips still red from earlier, and he knows exactly what kind of treat Zhao Yuanzhou meant.