Capturing My Demon King Costar

Yao Shen melts against Xin Hulei, offering no resistance. Instead, he loops his arms around Xin Hulei's neck, and wraps one leg about his waist, bringing their bodies closer.

Xin Hulei's hands rove over his body, lifting up his shirt to get at skin.

The touch of his cool hands on Yao Shen's heated chest makes his head swim. 

His shirt is almost halfway off him by the time Yao Shen's mind returns online.

Filled with regret, he stills Xin Hulei's hands before they can lift the thin shirt all the way off. "This is not a good idea."

He still doesn't know the truth of what happened when he was a ghost king. It would be incredibly cruel to let things progress under false assumptions.

It doesn't take a genius to know Xin Hulei would never touch him so intimately if he knew Yao Shen was the same person from his wretched memories.

Per his own words, at best he thinks Yao Shen is a reincarnation with no memories of his previous life -- but that's only partially true.

Yao Shen can't even imagine what he'd say if he knew about his dalliances with the ghost kings.

Xin Hulei gives him an accessing look, his unreadable gaze boring into Yao Shen. He lowers his eyes under the intense scrutiny, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

Finally, Xin Hulei asks, "What are you hiding from me?"

Yao Shen's eyes remain lowered, but he attempts to diffuse the tension with a joke. "I changed my mind, I'm saving myself for marriage."

A warm hand wraps around his waist, pulling him up against Xin Hulei's chest. "Haven't I proposed already?"

Yao Shen smacks his closed fist lightly against Xin Hulei's hard chest. "That doesn't count, you didn't mean it." Petulantly, he adds, "Besides, I'll be the one proposing."

He's just saying it to be contrarian, but he feels an amused exhale of air above his head. "Sure," Xin Hulei says, cupping the back of Yao Shen's head. "I'll be sure to say yes when you do."

His tone is light, but his words make something constrict painfully in Yao Shen's chest.

Yao Shen is in trouble, isn't he?

There's no way he'll come out of this unscathed. No way he won't end up hurt.

The worst part is that he'll have no one but himself to blame.

He tries to put some distance between himself and Xin Hulei, but he's reeled back in against Xin Hulei's chest.

"Does this have anything to do with Heimao's abs?"

Yao Shen is silent for a moment, and then breaks out into peals of laughter.

Xin Hulei doesn't see the humor in it. His sharp brows knit in confusion, and the corners of his lips twist downwards the longer Yao Shen keeps laughing. 

Once Yao Shen's laughter finally subsides, he takes pity on Yao Shen and pats his sculpted abdomen. "Don't worry, your abs are the best, your cat's can't compare."

It's clear his words don't reassure Xin Hulei in the least.

Yao Shen delights in seeing the minute signs of jealousy through the mask of Xin Hulei's stoic features. He watches in amusement as he starts taking things out of cupboards to start working on their meal.

"What are you making?" Yao Shen asks, watching the play of Xin Hulei's muscles as he chops vegetables.

"Pork lamian," Xin Hulei says dryly, his expression still shuttered.

Yao Shen slides up to him, grinning. "Do you need help?"

He's so amused by Xin Hulei's poor attempts to hide his obvious jealousy that he almost forgets about his guilty conscience. In a perfect world Yao Shen would be able to stay by Xin Hulei's side and tease him like this everyday.

"You can set the table."

Setting the table takes all of two minutes, so Yao Shen is back to pester Xin Hulei not long after.

"Are you jealous of Heimao?"

Xin Hulei's knife stops abruptly. "No," he says, with odd emphasis, before resuming dicing garlic.

Yao Shen leans his elbows on the counter and supports his chin on his palms, looking up at Xin Hulei's serious face with a besotted grin.

How could he have ever disliked him? The memory of that ill-fated actor survival show feels so distant that it could as well have happened to someone else.

Dinner is almost ready when Heimao bursts into the kitchen, still only wearing a pair of boxers, and scratching his offensive abs absentmindedly. 

"Jincan is all cried out." This is an accusation directed at Xin Hulei. "Now that you know about us, we should start eating human food."

His red eyes drift towards the simmering pot on the stove, his nostrils flaring as he takes in the scent of the fragrant noodles.

Feeling a little cheeky, Yao Shen lets his gaze drift over Heimao's sculpted torso, lingering on those contentious abs.

Heimao feels his gaze on him and smirks. "Do you like what you see, little beauty?" The lax fingers on his lower abdomen stop scratching and start stroking suggestively instead.

Xin Hulei puts himself between Yao Shen and Heimao, non-too-subtly. "You can call Jincan, but put on some clothes."

Heimao nods and turns on his heel, but not before winking at Yao Shen.

As soon as he's gone, Yao Shen turns to Xin Hulei. "Don't go overboard with the vinegar."

"This dish doesn't need vinegar." 

It might not need it, but Yao Shen thinks it adds a special flavor.

---

They have dinner on the glass dining table in the living room, overlooking the Beijing skyline. The beautiful view is spoiled by the strained mood, and the overbearing killing aura coming off Xin Hulei in waves.

"This is very good, Master," Jincan says, his eyes lowered demurely as he eats his noodles daintily.

He's making such a conscious effort not to slurp them, and avoiding getting broth around his lips that it's almost comical.

Yao Shen decides to cause problems on purpose.

"Is it? You're eating so slowly...maybe you'd rather have something else."

Jincan picks up on his hostility at once and stops it with the coquettish act, glaring at Yao Shen from across the table.

Xin Hulei finishes his food in record time, and sets down his chopsticks horizontally across his bowl.

"We need some rules," he says, gaze fixed on Jincan and Heimao. "Now that you have human forms I expect you to look after yourselves and help out around the house."

Heimao bristles immediately, his ears standing up on end. "We aren't your servants!"

Jincan lowers his eyes, and smiles shyly. "Jincan will do whatever Master tells him to." A faint redness spreads across his cheeks. "Jincan is happy to help."

Smiling sweetly, Yao Shen tilts his head to the side to look into Jincan's lowered eyes. "And how do you plan to do that? Face down, ass up?"

Yao Shen doesn't know what possesses him to be so crass at the dinner table, but Jincan's slutty little meow meow act is getting on his last nerve.

Jincan sputters indignantly, all traces of innocent seduction wiped off his pretty face. "How about you fuck right off? This isn't even your fucking house!"

Vindicated at making him show his true colours, Yao Shen grins. "There he is."

At Jincan's side, Heimao is looking between the two of them with a frown. "You shouldn't talk with him like that," he tells Yao Shen, his tone filled with recrimination. "He can like Xin Hulei if he wants to."

Yao Shen opens his mouth to retort but closes it right away. What is he doing getting into arguments with two people who have been humans for about as long as a toddler?

"Jincan can do whatever he wants, but as I've said earlier, any romantic intentions are pointless," Xin Hulei says.

Below the table, his cool hand closes over Yao Shen's fidgeting knee and squeezes once.

Seeing as the table is made of glass, everyone has an unimpeded view of what is going on under it.

Which, looking at Jincan's frown, might have been the whole point.

Yao Shen puts down his napkin and gets up from his chair. "Well, this has been fun, but I should get going."

The change is minimal, but Yao Shen is familiar enough with Xin Hulei's micro-expressions by now, to notice his displeasure. "You're not staying?"

If he did, there's the very real possibility that Jincan might kill him during the night, but that's not why Yao Shen isn't staying.

He shouldn't have come in the first place.

Yao Shen needs to find out more about what's going on, before he ends up hurting Xin Hulei. That he's going to end up hurt himself is probably a foregone conclusion.

The last thing he sees before Xin Hulei takes him to his apartment is Jincan's smug smirk from above Xin Hulei's shoulder.

Yao Shen holds back the childish impulse to make a rude gesture at him.

He tries to break free from Xin Hulei's hold as soon as they arrive in his apartment, but Xin Hulei's firm grip around his waist stops him.

"What's going on?" Xin Hulei asks, his dark eyes boring into Yao Shen. "Is someone threatening you?"

A cold dread spreads through Yao Shen's limbs when he realizes the command behind Xin Hulei's words. He hasn't used it on him since that first time on 'Hell on Earth', but Yao Shen knows he won't be able to resist it.