I like your lips

Thank you kongjiro for the ko-fi donation!

The master lights in the corridor flickered softly, and the heavy antique pendulum in the high-ceilinged living room swung with deep, rhythmic thuds.

Yu Chen’s arms remained powerful, his breathing steady as he murmured against Bai Ling’s ear, “The bed will make you associate this with reproduction and laying another egg. You only just laid an egg not long ago; your womb needs rest and cannot handle another one so soon. Therefore, we must change the environment, to an unfamiliar environment.”

Birds lay eggs when they feel secure, unfertilized eggs. However, laying eggs multiple times within a short window not only drains the body’s nutrients but can easily cause malnutrition, leading to egg binding. Fortunately, as long as a guardian diligently alters the furniture layout or actively changes locations to keep the omega in a constantly fresh environment, consecutive egg-laying is easily prevented.

Laying eggs had always been a massive blind spot in Bai Ling’s knowledge. He whispered, “…Where are we going?”

Yu Chen stopped at the entrance of the conservatory and set him down for a moment. Turning back, he smiled. “Would you mind pitching a tent with me?”

Pitching a tent was no difficult task.

When he was homeless on the square in his past life, a tent had been Bai Ling’s dwelling. He would climb up the pedestal of the sculpture and crawl beneath the bronze-cast robes, where there was an inconspicuous niche. The space was tiny, just barely fitting a 1.8m to 1.4m tent, as if it had been tailor-made for him.

Bai Ling had fought off four other homeless men single-handedly to secure this prime piece of real estate.

Back then, he was vicious to the core, snapping at anyone who came near. Because his health was poor and he frequently fell ill, he feared others would notice and ambush him. Every time he stepped out of his tent, he made sure to dab some blood from a half-healed wound and smear it evenly across his cheeks, putting on an act of a robust, healthy alpha who could take down a crowd with one punch.

Even so, he was eventually targeted by a group of idle alphas.

Whenever Bai Ling went to scavenge at the junkyard, he intentionally obscured his face. But when those thugs caught a glimpse of his forehead and eyes, and malicious intent stirred in their hearts. They tracked him back to the square, viewing him as a cheap, defenseless target.

Bullying an omega like him carried zero cost.

The thugs bid on their time, choosing the dead of night. The streets were dead silent, no one to hear him scream, no one to come to his rescue. They climbed onto the pedestal of the sculpture, their chaotic shadows stretching across the outside of the tent as they ruthlessly kicked and trampled the frame.

Sleeping inside, Bai Ling felt his entire world shaking. The sheer panic of being cornered in a dead end was terrifying beyond description.

Thus, he had never imagined that a day would come when he would unzip a tent door and willingly let an alpha crawl inside.

Yu Chen spread out the blanket, covering the floor of the tent completely. Glancing back, he saw Bai Ling staring at nothing, looking as if he were trapped in a nightmare.

“Something on your mind?” Yu Chen unfolded the bath towel, reaching out to draw him into his embrace, meticulously drying and massaging his hair.

“No… I just thought of the past.” Bai Ling lifted his eyes, looking through the gaps of the towel, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat. The merman’s jawline was tense, a prick of deep crimson showing as his tongue silently licked the seam of his lips.

He was an adult; how could he fail to see that the merman was starving?

Yu Chen promised, “The past wasn’t good, but the present and the future will be.”

His tone was so calm, steady, and full of power, as if this weren’t a mere comfort, but a solemn vow.

Bai Ling gripped the towel, catching the hand resting inside it as well. He didn’t know what had come over him; with his fingers separated only by the cloth, he urgently laced his fingers with the man’s, yet a layer of fabric felt far from enough. He turned his body around, preparing to strip off his clothes.

Yu Chen pinched his hip bone, drawing him slightly forward as he instructed, “Keep your shirt on. Don’t catch a cold.”

This was a small garden-style tent with no room for two people to turn around. Once the zipper sealed, the breathable air became limited, and within the blending of their breaths, a heavy spark was rapidly ignited.

The moment Bai Ling tossed his pajama pants aside, Yu Chen pulled half the blanket over to cover him. Even at this stage, the man’s first instinct was still to look after him.

An inexplicable ache pricked the bridge of Bai Ling’s nose, an discomfort born from being excessively cared for. He lowered his head, unbuttoning the rows of buttons on those supple, expensive iron-grey tailored trousers, his voice barely a whisper:

“Thanks to you, my life has become good.”

Without waiting for Yu Chen to reply, he pressed his words directly into the man’s mouth, heavily sealing his lips.

He felt absolutely no psychological barrier performing such an act; in his past life, he had knelt on the ground and done this for Mr. D once before. Except back then he was gravely ill, to the point where he couldn’t even taste his food, and naturally couldn’t articulate the sensation, whether it was fullness, discomfort, or a bittersweet joy. In any case, he had never regretted it.

Falcons do not possess impeccable night vision; in the dim light, he could only discern the vague outline of the man’s features.

Shifting his gaze via his peripheral vision, Bai Ling slammed straight into the merman’s faintly glowing green eyes. That gaze carried an absolute possessiveness—

The look of a predator savoring its prey.

Long, slightly cool fingers traced the contours of his collarbones inch by inch, toying with the pearl necklace for a brief moment before trailing slowly up the midline of his neck toward the base of his Adam’s apple. The contrast between the chill of the fingers and the scalding heat of his skin made him shudder, forcing him to swallow.

The merman cradled his jaw with his palm, lightly stroking his Adam’s apple like caressing a stray puppy he had taken in.

“I like your lips. Open wider.”

Author’s Note:

Little Bird: (Pondering) (Self-reflecting) …Have I fallen into someone’s tender trap?

Old Merman: (Gentle) (Dark) A guardian must pass down the entirety of his experience to the child.

Little Bird: ?!