Chapter 43: Facing Each Other Honestly Part 1

Li You woke from the heat. When he opened his eyes, he found the room pitch black. He closed his heavy, somewhat sore eyes, only feeling a heavy, hot mass on his body, like a fire enveloping and wrapping him up.

He tilted his head slightly, slipped his hand out from under the quilt, and fished out the light brain from under the pillow to check the time.

The light screen’s brightness adjusted automatically to the ambient light, not at all harsh, but Li You still squinted uncomfortably. After a few seconds to adjust, he opened his eyes and saw that it was early morning. He shoved the light brain back under the pillow, closed his drowsy eyelids, and rolled over…

He couldn’t roll.

The weight on him remained heavy, the intense heat wrapping him up tightly.

Li You opened his eyes again and groped around in the darkness with both hands. When he touched scorching skin, his body stiffened immediately. He pinched uncertainly a couple more times.

The hard, solid feel wasn’t his own body.

Li You’s sleepiness vanished in an instant. He grabbed the light brain and turned on the light. A silver-blue glow spread out, illuminating the entire bed.

He saw Li Ye pressing down on him, shirtless with no upper clothes on, the quilt covering only up to his waist and abdomen. He had no idea if the lower half was clothed.

Li Ye slept deeply, his breathing steady, arms wrapped around Li You’s waist, face pressed sideways against Li You’s lower abdomen.

That fiery heat wasn’t from the quilt at all, but transmitted from Li Ye’s skin.

Li You had changed into a set of white cotton pajamas. Even through the pajamas, he could feel his brother’s scorching body temperature, burning him as if his whole body was aflame.

He looked at Li Ye, who nearly covered him completely with his body, tense and dazed. Recalling everything that happened in the bathroom before sleep, his face immediately burned red.

He wasn’t sleepy at all now. Staring at the deeply sleeping Li Ye, his gaze fell on his own abdomen, where the pajama hem had been lifted, exposing it. There were ambiguous red marks scattered on it, along with bite marks!

Li You hurriedly shifted his gaze away, only to accidentally glimpse the quilt draped over Li Ye’s waist and abdomen. He didn’t know if there were pants underneath the quilt’s cover, but he had always felt Li Ye’s body heat—very hot, so hot.

There was only a layer of pajamas between them.

Li You’s mind went blank with heat, his face red as he didn’t dare move, shouting inwardly.

【Why did you change me into pajamas?！！！！！！】

He moved slowly, really not wanting to wake Li Ye, so his actions were especially careful. But as soon as he struggled free a little, those strong arms immediately fished him back.

Not only did he fail to escape, he ended up held even tighter.

Li Ye still didn’t wake, burying his face into Li You’s neck.

The pajamas were already loose-fitting. Li You’s shoulders and neck itched from Li Ye’s breath. He turned his head away, raised both arms to press Li Ye’s shoulders, trying to pry him off.

The attempt failed, and he nearly woke Li Ye.

He immediately gave up, spreading his hands to let the other hold him, staring at the ceiling with round eyes.

He seemed calm, but really had no other options.

Li You waited for the heat on his face to subside, awkwardly trying to shift his legs to avoid Li Ye’s closely pressed body. Unfortunately, he couldn’t move at all.

He closed his eyes and opened them again, calmly raising the light brain to illuminate the entire bed and observe Li Ye’s condition.

Li Ye’s horns had grown quite a bit longer, still gem-like red with very complex patterns, looking like dragon horns but not entirely.

Further back, the light didn’t reach the foot of the bed clearly, only vaguely showing Li Ye’s feet uncovered at the quilt’s end, and that unretracted tail.

The tail seemed a bit bigger than in the bathroom, but not ferocious or scary at all. Though deep black and covered in scales, it felt cool and soft to the touch, not prickly as imagined. The tip had light brown fluff, naturally curled, somewhat like auspicious clouds in shape.

It actually looked a bit cute.

【Li Ye isn’t a dragon, is he?】

【But his true form is pitch black and slippery, looking more like a snake…】

【And he has two.】

【How many does a dragon have?】

No literature or records specified how many a dragon had. Li You searched with the light brain, even flipping through ancient Earth relics, but couldn’t pin down an accurate form for “dragon,” let alone confirm the number.

He put down the light brain, closed his eyes to relieve the dryness from staring at the screen too long in the dark, then gently moved his leg overlapped with Li Ye’s. He bent his knee and pressed his sole against his brother’s tail.

Soft.

And unlike Li Ye’s current scorching body temperature, the tail was cool. Touching it felt strangely comfortable.

Li You was really too hot and desperately needed something cool. Since he couldn’t break free, he straightforwardly curled up his legs, pressing his soles against his brother’s big tail. Moments later, the spot he stepped on warmed up, so he shifted to another place. Eventually, he even wrapped his legs around Li Ye’s tail to cool down.

He carefully twisted under the other, trying to adjust position. He loosened his legs, propped himself up on his elbows against the mattress, and struggled to flip over, but still failed. Instead, he got held even tighter. He went limp, a bit helpless, when suddenly an idea struck him.

He could turn back into a cat!

No sooner said than done! Shape-shifting was now second nature to Li You. He blinked lightly, gathered his state in less than three seconds, and “whoosh”—shrank into a cat.

Then he pulled his tail out from under his brother’s shoulder, stood on the pillow, shook his fur. Once fully fluffed, as he prepared to shift back, he suddenly realized.

【Wait, I’m already a cat, why stay?】

【I can just leave!】

Li You immediately waddled bow-legged toward the bed’s edge. As he prepared to jump down, he remembered the light brain wasn’t with him, turned back to bite it. Looking up, he met a pair of deep, dark eyes, scaring him so his fur bristled on the spot. He spun around to flee, but Li Ye caught him with one hand and dragged him back.

Li You was flipped over, belly up. His brother buried his face in his belly unmoving. After a long while, he said hoarsely, “Change back.”

“Meow…”

【I won’t…】

The cat was especially stubborn, paws kicking nonstop at Li Ye to show refusal.

“Youyou.” Li Ye called him. “Change back.”

“…” The cat went quiet, back paws planted on Li Ye’s shoulder unmoving, front paws pushing his head. After a long time, it mewed softly, helpless inwardly.

【Just this once, okay.】

The cat flipped to lie prone and slowly shifted back to human. The pajamas Li You had been wearing were gone now. He buried his face in the pillow, trying hard to ignore the temperature of Li Ye on his back, and gritted his teeth: “Move over a bit! That thing of yours… it’s prickly!”

Li Ye’s nose tip pressed against the back of Li You’s neck, sniffing his scent lightly. At his words, his gaze shifted, and he moved aside a little.

“…” Li You turned his head, meeting Li Ye’s still somewhat hazy eyes. “Move more, you’re still pressing against me…”

Li Ye stared at Li You’s face, from brows and eyes to nose, then lips, tracing his contours with his gaze. Unable to help himself, he lowered his head, lips pressing lightly against Li You’s cheek: “Wait a bit…”

“You—” Li You tensed, turning his head away, heart itching sweetly.

He really wasn’t used to Li Ye being so intimate. He’d never seen it before, and now that he had, it felt not just novel, but overwhelmingly hard to handle.

Li You had little resistance to Li Ye to begin with, let alone when the guy suddenly got clingy.

The overlapping pair said nothing more, both lying prone unmoving. Li You silently recited a calming mantra in his mind, but after half a day, not only did he fail to ignore Li Ye’s presence on his back—he only grew more restless.

He shrugged his shoulders and said to Li Ye, who was drawing in his scent with his body, “You’re a bit heavy. It’s uncomfortable being pressed like this.”

To Li You, Li Ye’s current size was just too big. Pressed any longer, and he felt breathless, like crushed under a stone. He shifted again, grabbed Li Ye who was nuzzling his neck, really tickled by the hair sweeping, and couldn’t help tugging a handful, annoyed: “Get up!”

Li Ye’s breathing grew heavier for an instant. He wrapped one arm around Li You’s waist, rolled onto his side, flipping Li You to face him as well.

Li You only felt the world spin. From prone, he became side-lying, his brother’s face appearing before his eyes.

Both were naked, wrapped in the same quilt, bodies pressed skin-to-skin, feeling each other’s hardness clearly.

“…” Li You pushed hard at Li Ye’s chest to maintain some distance, squeezing words through clenched teeth: “I’m not wearing clothes!”

Li Ye buried his head in his neck again, voice muffled: “Mm, I’m not either.”

“Am I talking to you about who’s wearing clothes or not?” Li You struggled, reaching for the clothes dropped nearby during the shift, pulling them over to hug to his chest, pulling back: “You first… let go!”

Li Ye loosened a bit, quietly watching him dress, then pulled him back into his embrace.

“…” Li You’s face pressed against the other’s. He closed his eyes, trying to shift topic to distract: “Don’t your legs feel chilly?”

“Hm?” Li Ye propped up his upper body to look back, adjusted the crooked quilt to cover Li You completely, then lay back down to hold him. “Better now?”

“A bit better…” Li You pursed his lips straight, heart racing wildly.

【No, wait!!】

【Why am I chatting idly with him??】

【Li You, don’t you think our current interaction is super weird?!】

【Super weird ahhhh!!!】

【Think about what you two did in the bathroom earlier!!】

The inner shout stalled suddenly. He really couldn’t recall the bathroom events in his head. Face flushed beet red, he could only steel himself to keep distracting: “Li Ye, I’m really not afraid of you.”

Li Ye opened his eyes to look at him, suddenly asking: “Why aren’t you calling me bro anymore?”

“…” Li You rubbed his itchy ear swept by the other’s breath, grinding his teeth. “Not right now.”

【Calling bro in this situation feels so weird…】

Li Ye gazed at Li You, hands lightly gripping his waist—just able to hold it, fingertips slowly rubbing the cotton pajamas, gradually slipping under the hem to caress the youth’s smooth skin unhurriedly. “Why not?”

“Now it’s too…” Li You got tickled where touched, quickly pressing down Li Ye’s misbehaving hand, annoyed and shy, squeezing out from between teeth: “We’re so weird right now! Don’t you think it’s weird?”

“We’ve done everything, but I’m your brother, you’re my bro, and now we’re lying together… You making me call you bro now—that’s even weirder!” Li You got a bit annoyed, patted Li Ye’s hand. “No more touching!”

Li Ye uttered an “oh,” still gripping Li You’s waist without letting go. He looked at the youth’s flushed eye tails under the glow, then after a moment buried his head, leaning by Li You’s ear to ask: “You hate it a lot?”

Li You took several seconds to react to what Li Ye meant, frowning in thought for a long time. Seeing Li Ye’s mood seem low, he inexplicably felt sorry for him. “Actually… can’t say I hate it.”

Li Ye fell silent, just gazing at him quietly.