Lle na all yr haul cyrraedd: Part II (2/2)

[cwtchbuddy]

“Why are they looking at me like that?” The matter has been bothering Yixing ever since his first outing to Sonnenstadt and only now is he bold enough to ask Yifan about it, “I’ve been here for almost two weeks, shouldn’t they be used to my presence by now? My crew walks along the streets of Mondstadt as well but they never get as much attention as I do. Is it because of you or because I’m human?” His grip around Yifan’s arm tightens as they pass by a group of men, who are openly ogling the scientist, their eyes having been following Yixing’s figure from the moment he stepped down from their vehicle. The prince throws them a look, carefully removing Yixing’s hand from his arm so he can hold the other close by his waist. Yifan’s actions makes the scientist gulp and flush red, quite thankful that no one is bothering to stop the prince for a little chat or else they might notice the colour in his cheeks. He knows the prince is only doing this to keep him safe and away from the eyes of others who might be having indecent thoughts about him but Yixing can’t help but feel that there is more meaning behind the simple gesture.

“It isn’t only because you are human, Yixing,” Yifan finally answers him as they enter one of the domes to check if the farmers’ produce are doing well after the rain the day before. The prince instantly lets go of his waist once they are in the confines of the dome. Yixing can’t deny that he misses the contact but lets himself be content with the arm offered by the royal. “You may have noticed that only royals have pale skin and most of our people, even the guards who keep us safe,” Yifan points to Jongin and Zitao, “have tanned skin.” Yixing hums but his face gives no hint of fully understanding. “They think you are a royal from your planet, and every royal is to be treated preciously.”

Yixing remembers his history tutor talking about the origins of the Llwyth people. According to him everyone had pale skin back then, and having settled in the area of the planet where the sun doesn't shine, it was easy for them to keep such colour. But working under the sun had it's benefits as well, so the ancestors of the Llwyth people decided to take advantage of the land on the other side of the planet. They tried looking for root crops around the planet and created some as well to cultivate and produce in order to keep their people alive.

There were two types of people then, the ones who thought of and invented things, the brains, and the ones who toiled under the sun, the brawn. There were no royals back then, no one definite person or family to rule over the planet. But Yifan's family were composed of the most intelligent and well-versed people, so that it was no brainer that the prince's ancestors were best fit to be given the reins over the land and its people. Because of this, Yifan's family stayed in Dinas Hynafol, planning and creating everything in one place while the people of Tuhwntmae’rsêr worked to put their inventions to use.

They created the cerbyds in answer to the people's need for transportation from their homes to their workplace. They created the domes as protection from the heat of the sun. But one of the most successful and well-praised inventions of their family are the vents. They are placed all over the planet and work to suck the hot air from Sonnenstadt to even out the very low temperature in Mondstadt, giving both cities, and the whole planet, exactly the right temperature.

However, even with all these inventions, due to the other Llwyth people's labor under the sun, their skin became more tanned and eventually changed their genetics as well. Their offspring inherited their olive skin and their colored hair, and along with it the devotion to work for and with their own kind. And the royals, being hidden away from the sun, kept their pale complexion and silvery long hair, their knowledge still as bright as before, their thoughts never waning and their inventive minds never exhausted.

“Tywysog.” A man removes his hat and bows once he sees the royal. By now, Yixing is already knowledgeable of the important words that he needs to remember, although he still has troubles pronouncing them. Yifan excuses himself and tends to his duties, telling Yixing he can roam around and look at the farm freely.

Instead of being fascinated by the vegetation, Yixing’s mind runs a mile a minute as his eyes flit to where the prince is inspecting the produce; the royals words deep and resounding in his ears.

Yixing is human and he is no royal. He isn’t quite sure whether the prince or anybody knows of this but Yifan is willing to marry him, even without knowing whether he has any noble extensions to his name or not. It makes him worry that there is more than the prince lets on, even if he already knew in the first place that the prince is only marrying him as payment for their intrusion. What he fears the most is that he knows it is possible for the people of Tuhwntmae’rsêr to blame him and his human blood for weakening the bloodline of the Llwyth royals in the future. Although he knows he isn’t capable of bearing a child himself, he is sure they have the technology to make it possible. However, he thinks that what hurts more is the idea that because of his inability to carry a child, Yifan might have a woman to sleep with and impregnate with his child. He doesn’t know why but that thought makes way for more feelings to come out, feelings he never thought he had. Howbeit, before he can even ponder on these, he hears a familiar deep voice behind him.

“You’re so deep in thought,” Yifan breaks through his contemplation, making him turn and face the prince. His sight is blurry for some reason; then he hears panic in the royal’s voice, “Why are you upset?” Yixing feels the prince’s hands heavy on his shoulders before they move to his cheeks, cupping them as thumbs swipe the apples of his cheeks. The scientist belatedly realizes the reason for his blurred vision. He is crying. Quickly he presses the heels of his palms onto his eyes, hoping they will be enough to stop his tears from falling. “Yixing, tell me why you’re crying,” there is concern etched on the prince’s face, his thick eyebrows furrowing as he lowers himself to be on eye level with Yixing, “please.”

“I-I don’t know.” Yixing pulls at his sleeves to cover his palm before pressing them over his eyes again, the fabric darkening as it soaks up the saline fluid. “It’s…it’s nothing, Yifan. D-don’t worry…about me…”

“How can I not when you’re stuttering and spilling tears?” Concern bleeds through Yifan’s voice, his fingers frantically catching tears as his hands squeeze the other’s cheeks.

“I’m okay, just tend to your work first.” The prince isn’t sure what he needs to say and do to calm Yixing down without knowing the reason behind his crying. All he can do is stay and be there for him but the human doesn’t allow him, pushing him to do things other than worry for him.

“But Yixing…”

“That’s more important right now,” the scientist cuts him off, fear of being banished for speaking up to a royal forgotten as he slowly gains control over his sobbing. His words lie heavy on Yifan’s chest but as much as he wants to protest and tell Yixing that he is wrong, the prince also wants to honor his wishes. Reluctantly, he lets go of the other’s face, hands finding Yixing’s and squeezing them, a gesture he’s never done for anyone before but it seems right at the moment.

“Just wait for me here,” he lifts one of his hands again to wipe Yixing’s tears as he continues, “I’ll be quick. We’ll return to the palace soon.” He lets go just as quickly, wanting to be done with his duties to be able to focus on Yixing.

Yixing does wait, his feelings overwhelming him again once he is alone. His heart races a mile a minute as thoughts about his marriage with the prince fill his mind once more. He trembles on his feet and barely stays up as he tries to refrain from crying. Afraid of its outcomes especially when he comes to realize the deeper meaning behind his tears. With barely any strength left in his legs, he walks to a nearby shed, back slumping against the wall. When Jongin notices his distress, the guard tries to walk up to him but he lifts his hand in reassurance as he shakes his head. The tall male nods and backs away, returning to Zitao’s side upon Yixing’s request, eyes flitting to his master every once in awhile.

Just as Yifan promised, he finishes with his work in Sonnenstadt quickly, leaving Yixing in his office to be alone after their farm trip at first while the royal goes around the city to finish his tasks.

The ride back to the palace is quiet, Yixing keeping to himself and not even bothering to meet eyes with the prince, instead keeping his gaze trained to the sandy ground below that gradually changes to rocky mountains. The scientist excuses himself to his room the second they step foot into the palace, bowing to the prince before disappearing towards the direction of Yifan’s chambers. When Jongin tries to follow the scientist, the royal halts him and tells him and Zitao to give the human some space and only interrupt him for supper. Even with concern on their faces, they follow the prince’s commands and stand guard in front of the royal’s chambers instead.

Yixing clambers up to his bed, not bothering to change his clothes like he usually would when he returns from a trip to Sonnenstadt, just curling in on himself as he feels the tears stinging his eyes once more. His earlier thoughts plague him again, unrelenting this time, as if they know he is alone and that they can harass his fragile heart without anyone interrupting to sweep him away and make him feel better about himself again. The thoughts he has suppressed the previous weeks to force himself to be in agreement with his fate, to marry the Tuhwntmae’rsêr prince, surge up and wrap their claw-clad hands around his heart until there is nothing but pain, nothing but sadness.

Why me? Why does it have to be me? Why is he playing me like this? I know he’s only using me as a reminder for the people on Earth not to try anything funny by coming to their land again. But why is he treating me so gently if I am nothing but a prisoner, a slave to his wants, a payment for our intrusion?

Yixing thinks of the possibilities if he had chosen something else to be fascinated with, if he chose something else to love other than the stars and planets. His blurry eyes shift to the open window, the distant stars winking at him and smiling without consideration for his feelings.

If I didn’t like you so much, he projects his thoughts towards the stars, if I had chosen to become a simple person with simple likes and dreams I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be betrothed to a man whose sole intention is only to keep me as a warning for others and nothing more.

But his voice of reason, small yet strong, also tells him that if not for his fondness for the stars he wouldn’t have been able to meet Yifan and find a life outside of his own planet; a life that seems to be more exciting than the one he had back on Earth.

With his eyes heavy and body tired, drained from the day’s work and from crying, Yixing falls into a deep sleep, his pillow soaked with his tears. He doesn’t even bother fighting against it, seeing it as an escape from his reality.

Yifan tries his best to get more work done in his office, going through reports and checking on the progress of the new technology that Lu Han and his team are currently inventing. However, no matter how much he wants to be productive, his brain doesn’t allow him, instead supplying him with images of Yixing’s face with tears rolling down his cheeks.

At first, Yifan’s sole intention of keeping Yixing was for him to serve as a reminder to humans. He only intended to be nice to him to capture his heart and make him want to stay without putting up a fight, only to turn him into a slave once his friends are back on Earth. But Yifan has never been the type to be evil with ill intentions, the plan backfiring the moment he laid eyes upon the human, more beautiful than any being he’s ever seen, even if his only royal trait is his pale skin. He found himself unable to look away from the human, the melancholic twinkle in his eyes drawing him in and making him stay.

As time passed and he spent more time with Yixing, he realized that the latter part of his plans will never be put into action. Not when Yixing is smiling at him with his dimple and telling him to not work himself too hard; he’s never had someone worry for him as much as the scientist does, never had someone smile at him with such delight as much as the other has. So it worries him, to see the human cry like that when Yifan’s already so used to seeing him smile. He worries that his initial plans might have been leaked but nobody else knows about them. He is afraid that someone could have told Yixing about how the prince’s parents, old and greying, have been urging him to find a companion and be wed before they leave the planet completely. But it seems too shallow of a reason for the scientist to worry about and cry over. There is no way for his worries to be laid to rest other than to directly ask Yixing about it and he hopes this time, the other won’t avoid his questions.

The prince looks over at the time to see that it is well into the hour of their nightly garden trip. Pushing his duties to the side once more, Yifan stands up, dusts his clothes and leaves his office to find Yixing in his room.

“Yixing?” The prince doesn’t bother with manners and opens the door to Yixing’s room on his own, not wasting a second to see the other and check on how he’s doing. He finds the scientist sitting on his bed and looking out the window to the stars.

“Have you eaten?” The scientist nods, head bowed as the prince’s figure casts a shadow over him.

“Let’s go to the garden.” It’s a statement, not a question. Yifan knows the sight of the Serenliebes glowing under the moonlight and the scent of the flowers surrounding them will somehow relax Yixing, as the other has told him about it in the first few days that they started visiting the garden at night. The human doesn’t even protest as he stands up and takes the cloak offered to him by Yifan. The prince is slightly worried about his lack of response, even if such a response’s contents might be opposing the royal’s wishes but he still offers his arm and hopes the scent of the flowers will help him ease Yixing’s worries, whatever they may be.

Once seated at their usual spot in the middle of the garden, Yixing lets go of the prince’s arm. Yifan’s heart aches a bit for the gesture but he doesn’t read too much into it as the other always keeps his hands to himself once there is no more need for contact. He looks at the scientist, whose eyes are still downcast, his mood unaffected by the beautiful glow of the Serenliebes and the sweet scent surrounding them.

“Will you tell me what is bothering you?” Yifan asks once the silence is starting to become too much to bear. They always are quiet whenever they are together in the garden but usually it is the comfortable kind, neither feeling the pressure to do anything but bask in their surroundings. However, with the earlier happenings at the farm and with how Yixing holed himself up in his room for the rest of the day, the silence is anything but comfortable. It creeps up Yifan’s skin and pricks at his senses, making him more aware of the silence between them.

The scientist looks away, hands wringing as he bites his bottom lip, forcing the tears to stay where they are, “Are you just going to keep quiet?” Yifan tries to cajole the other into saying something once more, a hand landing on Yixing’s shoulder as he says, “At least, look at me.”

Yixing shakes his head, face scrunching up as he tries to pull himself together and not spill a single tear in front of the prince. His hands clench and unclench at his knees, bunching up his robes with as much force as he can to redirect his strength and emotions in hopes of losing the sense of guilt and pressure within him. But as much as he tries to keep them all in, his tears have a will of their own, escaping his tear ducts to slide down his cheeks.

Yixing’s face shines as the tears increase in volume. Yifan, noticing that his constant questioning is doing nothing but exacerbate the other’s crying, quietens down and removes his hand from Yixing’s shoulder, allowing him the space that he needs. However, the small choked back sobs he releases has Yifan looking his way every now and then, fingers itching to caress Yixing’s face and free his heart of pain.

“Should I make it rain so you can talk to it instead?” Yifan isn’t thinking when he says it, worry the only emotion encasing him as he watches the other shed more tears. Yixing shakes his head vigorously, saline droplets shaken away from his face. The prince lets go of his self restraints and reaches for the other’s head, patting down his hair in an attempt to soothe him, “Alright. Talk when you feel like it, I’ll listen.”

Yifan doesn’t say it out loud but he wants to be Yixing’s rain - to soak Yixing with his presence and be the one who hears all of his thoughts, the one who he pours his heart out to, absorbing all his happiness and washing away all of his sorrows. Yifan wants to be the most important presence in Yixing’s life as the other is in his.

After what feels like an eternity, Yixing finally speaks up, “For once I thought I am important to someone but I-I don’t think I am worthy of marrying you.” The prince almost experiences whiplash with how fast he turns his head towards Yixing, “You’re a prince and I’m a nobody.”

“Yixing…” The prince breathes out the other’s name, surprise evident in his voice upon hearing what has been clouding up the scientist’s mind and making him shut the royal out for a whole day.

“I know you’re only keeping me for my kind’s ignorant behaviors so you don’t have to treat me like I’m special,” Yixing hiccups and the prince wants to interrupt him but he is also curious as to what is going on in the mind of the human, to be able to understand him more, “I know you’ll find somebody else who is more worthy than I am, a woman, perhaps, to bear you an heir. So y-you can stop now,” the scientist finalizes, hands balled on his lap and eyes trained to the floor, “I know I’m not important to you.”

“But you are.” Yixing looks up at the prince’s words, eyes red and teary. Yifan doesn’t even stop his hands anymore from reaching for the scientist, cupping his cheek and sliding down to his neck. “You are the most important person to me.” Yixing looks like he is about to protest but the prince places his thumb on the other’s lips, effectively silencing him. His thumb grazes the plump bottom lip that’s been bitten with so much force it bleeds. He swipes the blood away before looking into Yixing’s eyes, “It is true that my intentions were impure at first but can you blame me for now wanting to keep you not as a prisoner but as a prize?” Yifan drops his hand from Yixing’s face to the hands balled on the scientist’s lap, eyes cast on the skies above them.

“My parents have been asking me to take someone into marriage, as they are getting old and will soon leave us,” Yifan starts, wanting no more secrets hidden between him and Yixing, “I had the intention of marrying you only to satisfy their requests but soon I realized that it was you that I’ve been waiting for.” He smiles a little as he remembers the day Yixing and his crew landed in Tuhwntmae’rsêr, marking it as his favourite. With his large hand, he squeezes Yixing’s smaller ones, trapping them within his hold with no plans of letting go. His eyes land on their hands before going up to meet Yixing’s. The scientist has calmed down a little bit but there’s still a hint of wariness in his eyes that the prince knows will always be present until he proves his words to be true, “I will marry you, Yixing, and I will take no one else but you.”

“What about an heir?” Yixing chooses to overlook what the royal just said as his worries still plague him, even with the tight grip around his hands, “I…what will the people say? I can’t bear you a child.” He looks down and worries his bottom lip, his fear once more catching up to him, “Even if I could, I would only weaken the royal bloodline.”

“Yixing,” the prince brushes the back of his hand against the other’s cheek, Yixing’s eyes instantly closing at his touch, “us royals are here only to be rulers of our kingdom, to keep our planet on the right track. We are not gods. Whether we choose a man, a woman, one of our kind or a human, our people will say nothing as we treat everyone equally.”

“But an heir,” the other looks up, eyes wide in panic as the problem is yet to be given a solution, “you still need an heir. I can’t give that to you, I’m a man.”

Yifan brushes Yixing’s cheeks once more, seeing it as a calming gesture for the other, as he goes on to explain, “All people of our land, man and woman, have the capability to be pregnant. You need not worry about that.”

Yixing considers this for a moment, not understanding how it answers his worries. Then his eyes widen at the implication of Yifan’s words, mumbling, “Are you…saying?” The prince nods his head as he sees Yixing’s face clear up in understanding.

“No, we can’t,” the scientist frantically shakes his head, looking away from Yifan, “I can’t. We…I…” The words die in his throat as the idea dawns on him, unable to form more words of protest other than, “You-You’re the prince here, Yifan.”

“So?” The prince looks unperturbed by his own suggestion. He thumbs on the apples of Yixing’s cheeks when the other looks at him a bit appalled, “Isn’t it more important that we are together?” Yixing’s eyebrows level and his lips form a pout at the prince’s words, his face looking so adorable that Yifan can barely contain himself. “If you are not comfortable with it, we can stop talking as long as you promise to stop worrying about it.” The pout on the scientist’s lips juts out even more as his eyebrows meet in the middle, “Whether we have a child of our own or not isn’t important. If you are hoping to leave a ruler after me, Sehun is always there to take my place. If not him, his child.”

Yixing seems to still be deep in his worries, eyes not meeting the prince’s as he sucks in his bottom lip, “Are my words not enough to put you at ease, Yixing?”

The scientist lifts his gaze up and responds quickly, “That’s not it, I’m just worried.”

“Over nothing,” Yifan reassures him. He places both of his hands on Yixing’s face, planting his forehead against the other’s, “I repeat, Yixing, it is you or no one else.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️

After their talk, the nights they spend in the garden grow longer in hours, their conversations more open and their words more honest. Yifan tries to understand every mannerism that Yixing has so that he will be able to respond correctly, not wanting to experience another day where the other will suddenly burst into tears. He patiently studies the scientist, the other’s moods and what he needs to do if ever they go south. It is a process to be in a relationship, to get to know someone and be able to be honest with them and bare all your deepest, darkest secrets, to put down all your defenses to show all your weaknesses. But Yifan is willing as Yixing seems to be as well, their conversations going back and forth and bouncing from one topic to another, from their past, both the sad and happy parts of it, to their dreams, the ones they wish for their own and the ones they wish for them both, together.

One night, out of curiosity and maybe to break the silence, Yixing asks, “Are you going to get mad at me if I ask you how old you are?” They are lying on the grass, in the middle of the garden, their cloaks spread beneath them, “I’m afraid humans are quite touchy about this subject.”

“Hmmm,” Yifan thinks about it, if he really cares but he doubts he would deny Yixing any answer, uncaring of whether the question is a bit insulting or not because he knows the other is only asking things out of curiosity. However, he still answers as honestly as he can, as honestly as he knows Yixing wants him to, “I might get annoyed, if I knew how old I am, but not mad.”

The prince hears a little noise from his side where Yixing is, “Right, you don’t have dates,” the scientist seems to be thinking, humming as the gears in his brain start working, “Do you know how many days you’ve been alive then?”

“That,” he looks to where Yixing is, the scientist turning his head at the same time, “I can tell you.” Yixing smiles at him, the excitement evident in his eyes as he rolls on his stomach and watches Yifan with slight amusement.

Yifan retrieves his tablet from his pocket, directing it to the golden earring pierced to his left ear, the device glowing blue and lighting up their faces in the middle of the night. Once the folded tablet beeps, the prince places it in front of his eyes to read the information collected by the device from his earring.

The royal hums as he scrolls through the data, making a sound when he sees the one that he needs. He places the device in front of Yixing’s face, his pupils rimmed with blue due to the glowing light of the screen, “10,430 days,” Yifan says, pointing to a row of what Yixing remembers to be numbers in Llwyth writing.

“May I borrow your tablet?” Yifan nods and places the folded device into the other’s palm in answer, aware that Yixing already knows how to use it.

The scientist opens up a blank page where he scribbles the numbers. Without knowing how to use the equivalent of a calculator on the planet, Yixing does the traditional way of dividing numbers. He scrunches his forehead as he comes up with the final result. Yifan watches him with amusement, even rolling to his side and propping his elbow on the ground to support his head, to get a better and closer view of Yixing’s concentrated face.

“Hmmm, it looks like you are just a year older than me,” Yixing informs the prince once he is done calculating, the numbers two and eight glowing above the other numbers, “in Earth time though.”

“Does it matter?” Yifan asks Yixing as he watches the other erase what he has written before folding the device once more to give back to the prince.

“Not really, I was just curious.” The scientist shrugs before adding, “Aren’t you happy to know though?”

Yifan thinks about it. It doesn’t really bother him whether Yixing is older or younger than him but he knows the right answer to the other’s question, “If it makes you happy, then I am too.”

Instead of offering his arm out for Yixing to take, Yifan just outright grabs the other’s hand to hold in his when the scientist finally comes out of his room. It shocks the younger for a second until he realizes what just happened, causing him to blush, his face firing up due to the prince’s sudden gesture.

Ever since the night he confessed his feelings for Yixing, Yifan has taken to having his own lessons while the scientist is busy with his; lessons on how to make the other feel that he is important to Yifan just as the prince has proclaimed.

Baekhyun and Jongdae, his self-proclaimed tutors, who take the time off of their repairs of the Chariot to teach the Tuhwntmae’rsêr prince, have told him that holding hands is the most simple gesture shared by people in a relationship. They expounded that it is done both to claim ownership of the other and to serve as a connection for them at the same time. The humans have also instructed him to always compliment Yixing because it shows that he is watching the other carefully and proves to the scientist that he is worth all the praise in the world. The two tutors emphasized that he should always take into consideration his partner’s feelings whenever he does something because Lu Han has shared, after overhearing their little lesson, that Yifan is a man who does whatever he feels like doing without taking into account the feelings of others.

“What are you doing?” Are Yixing’s first words after the prince took the scientist’s smaller hand into his own.

Yifan looks down at him for a second before giving him an obvious answer, “Holding your hand.”

“I can see that.” the scientist eyes their clasped hands, feeling his face colour once more as the elder squeezes his hand, “But why?” They pass by a few workers in the palace who eye their linked hands and Yixing just wants to curl in on himself to escape from all the attention that the simple gesture is getting them.

“To show affection,” Yifan answers as they walk down the stairs to get to the vehicle waiting for them, he is already quite late for some meetings he is supposed to have with the Llwyth’s council of farmers. However, he doesn’t mind the stares he will get once he arrives at his office, not when he feels the warmth of Yixing’s hand against his. Then he realizes something from the way the younger is shying away from the looks the people around them are giving him; he forgot the other thing the humans told him, to take Yixing into consideration. He quickly releases the smaller’s hand and utters an apology, “I…I’m sorry. Did you not want me to hold your hand?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Yixing tries to appease him, his cheeks still burning as his mind is stuck at the prince’s earlier words: to show affection. Even with a dozen eyes following them around, he bravely holds out his hand for the prince to take once more, stopping a few meters away from their vehicle. Yifan smiles as he looks at the outstretched palm, closed-lip but still ethereal like his overall presence. “T-take it already,” Yixing stutters in embarrassment for his own actions and the prince gladly takes the younger’s hand in his, marching to their cerbyd with a content smile on his face. Yifan doesn’t let go of the scientist’s hand even as they reach Sonnenstadt and roam around the streets to talk to the citizens; the simple act connecting them as they are surrounded by a dozen people. Yixing is thankful that the prince is taking steps to be more open with him after the scientist spilled every little worry he has about their union. There is still a long way to go but he is willing to walk the path as long as he has Yifan’s hand intertwined with his.

“Sleep well, Yixing,” Yifan says as he stands in front of the other’s room, the younger already inside with his door still open. The scientist smiles up at him, his eyes already closing from exhaustion. The urge to kiss the younger is way too strong for Yifan not to act upon it and with as much restraint as he can cast on himself, he cups Yixing’s cheeks and kisses his forehead. The prince feels the younger’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise, his eyes probably alert again because of Yifan’s actions.

“Sorry,” the royal apologizes when he releases his hold on Yixing, still feeling the warmth that quickly occupied the human’s face, “I couldn’t help it.” He sees Yixing worry his bottom lip while he sways back and forth on his heels, probably thinking of how, and whether or not he should respond to the prince’s advances.

“It’s okay, I guess,” the scientist answers weakly, head still bowed to hide the colour on his cheeks.

“Look at me then, if it really is.” Yifan reaches for Yixing’s hand, shaking it slightly to get the other’s attention. The younger feels like a high school student who just got his first kiss again and the thought only fires him up even more, twisting his insides as the image of Yifan closing in on him as he leans down to kiss Yixing’s forehead plays in a loop in his mind. Yifan takes the matters to his own hands and lifts the younger’s chin, a little surprised at the shade of red on Yixing’s face. It fits him however, makes him more beautiful and special than he already is.

“Can I do it again?” There is hesitance in Yifan’s voice, as he repositions his hand so that his thumb is on Yixing’s lips. He can accept it if the younger feels it is too early to do this, Yixing’s crew has told him that with the scientist’s nature it may take a while for them to move from holding hands to kissing. He is in no rush either, seeing as he will be spending the rest of his life with Yixing anyway. The royal would rather do it when the other is more comfortable about the thought of kissing than having him feel forced to do it. “It’s alright,” he assures Yixing, cupping his cheek again, one thumb rubbing the skin that is pulled taut over the younger’s cheekbone while the other is doing the same to the back of Yixing’s hand, drawing circles to calm him, “we can take things slow.”

To Yifan’s surprise, Yixing closes his eyes and shakes his head, his grip tightening around the prince’s hand, “I-I want you to.”

“You don’t have to force yourself, Yixing,” the prince looks at the younger with thoughtful eyes but there is something swirling within the beautiful brown orbs that are looking up at him; a new kind of emotion he has never come across before. He understands what it is about when Yixing opens his mouth next.

“Please.”

Yifan feels something stir in his gut and it is like Yixing’s lips are drawing him in, his body leaning down in reflex while his hand lifts the younger’s face up. Yixing tip toes and parts his lips slightly, awaiting the contact of the elder’s lips against his.

It is instant, the electricity of their connection jolting their senses and taking the soft brushing of lips to a new level; the pairs of plump flesh pushing harder at each other as Yifan pulls Yixing close to him with an arm around the younger’s waist. They stay stuck with their lips gliding smoothly and in no haste, taking all the time the world allows them to have.

Yifan lovingly massages Yixing’s lips with his, taking the smaller’s plump bottom lip between his lips before the upper lip, the younger accepting everything that the royal gives him. The sigh of contentment that leaves Yixing’s lips pushes Yifan to do more and drown the younger in his kisses. He swipes his tongue against the younger’s bottom lip, not forcing his way in and instead waiting for permission. When he feels the tip of the younger’s tongue poke his own, he feels a renewed vigor, promptly pushing his tongue in to chase Yixing’s. Their tongues dance around each other as their hands roam around each other’s body, palms squeezing and splaying at appropriate areas.

Yixing moans into the kiss, urging the elder to press their bodies even more together and swallow the sound into his mouth. The younger appreciates Yifan’s kisses by allowing himself to give in to his body’s wishes just as he knows the prince wants him to; to be honest about his feelings. He doesn’t let go of Yifan and moves fluidly with the other’s body without even having to think about it. They only part when the need for air becomes too strong, a string of saliva connecting their swollen lips, Yixing’s hands balled into the front of the elder’s clothes.

Yifan holds Yixing close, their sweaty foreheads touching whilst they try to catch their breaths. He leaves a peck on the younger’s lips before completely letting him go, mesmerized by the smile his kiss has drawn on the other’s features. The prince bends down once more to steal another kiss from Yixing, the scientist scrunching his nose as a joke. Yifan smiles and kisses Yixing once more, addicted to the taste of his lips before he traces his nose against the younger’s, eventually leaving a last kiss to his forehead.

In the silence of the night, Yifan whispers, “Good night, love.”