Guiying woke up to something warm and heavy pressed against his back. He registered the arm around his waist, the broad chest behind him, the breathing that was not his own and turned his head.

There was a face approximately three inches from his, eyes closed, taking up a completely unreasonable amount of the bed.

Before he could say anything he was squished, Liuxian’s arm tightening around his waist and pulling him back into his chest. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Guiying reached up and pinched his side. Hard.

Liuxian burst out laughing, shoulders shaking, entirely unbothered.

Guiying sat up. "You were awake!"

"For a while," Liuxian said, still laughing.

"And you just laid there?!"

"You were very comfortable," Liuxian said. He pulled Guiying back down and kissed one cheek then the other. "Besides you were the one who grabbed my wrist last night and begged me to stay so you don’t get to complain."

-_-

When did he do that? He didn’t even remember leaving the car.

"I was asleep! That doesn’t count!"

"It counts to me." Liuxian said.

His hands slid to Guiying’s waist then lower and Guiying yelped.

"What is your deal with my butt?!" he said.

"Nothing much," Liuxian said. "It’s soft. I like touching it. It’s mine anyway."

Before Guiying could respond Liuxian’s finger slipped inside and Guiying grabbed his wrist immediately.

"Can you not do that?" he said. "It’s weird."

"Is it?" Liuxian said, not removing his finger.

"Yes," Guiying said, his face fully red.

"Getting wet from one finger," Liuxian said. "Imagine when we do the real thing. You’ll be gushing."

"Can you stop!" Guiying smacked his chest. "You’re embarrassing me! Why are you teasing me when we’re not going to do anything?!"

"Mm," Liuxian said. "Do you want to do something?"

Guiying looked away. "I wouldn’t mind," he said quietly. "If we did."

Liuxian pulled him in and kissed him. When he pulled back he was smiling.

"Then let’s have our honeymoon in the States," he said. "I’ll rent somewhere nice just for us and we can spend the whole night going at it like dogs in heat."

Guiying stared at him blankly.

"Like dogs in heat..."

"Yes. Like dogs in heat," Liuxian confirmed.

Guiying looked at him for a long moment.

"You’re unbelievable," he said.

"You said you wouldn’t mind," Liuxian said.

Guiying pointed at the door. "Go pack your bags."

Liuxian laughed and kissed him one more time before getting up.

Guiying pulled the blanket over his head the moment Liuxian left the room.

He lay there for a moment staring at the inside of the blanket.

He had just told Liu Liuxian he wouldn’t mind having sex with him.

Out loud.

With his mouth.

And Liuxian had responded by suggesting they spend a week in America going at it like dogs in heat, which was possibly the least romantic thing anyone had ever said to him and somehow he had not hated it.

He also could not stop thinking about the finger that had just been inside him.

Just one and he had already been wet. He buried his face in the pillow.

What was going to happen when it was the actual thing?

He was going to die. He was going to actually die.

He slid out of bed eventually, pulled the suitcase out from the closet and set it open on the floor.

He was going as himself this time.

No wig, no contacts, no Tang XiaoYu.

Just Xue Guiying, which was a strange and quietly significant thing to sit with.

He checked the weather app.

New York was in the middle of summer.

Warm, humid, the kind of weather that made heavy clothing a punishment.

He pulled out everything he needed and laid it on the bed. Underwear first, enough for the week. Tank tops, shorts, a few shirts. His perfumes, two of them. Skincare and makeup into their own pouch. He was not going to arrive anywhere looking less than himself regardless of the occasion.

Then his outfits.

For travelling he pulled out the white textured button up short sleeve shirt, left it open at the collar. Brown shorts, relaxed fit with the drawstring sitting loose at the waist.

His Adidas Sambas.

And the gold rimmed rectangular sunglasses that he set on top of the folded clothes.

He folded everything in neatly and zipped the suitcase.

Then he sat on the edge of the bed and thought about it again.

He stood up and went to brush his teeth.

Liuxian was already downstairs when Guiying came down with his suitcase.

He was dressed in the white graphic tee, the striped linen wide leg trousers sitting loose on his frame, slides on his feet.

He had a canvas tote over one shoulder and his phone in his hand and he looked, for a man who ran one of the largest corporations in the country, extremely unbothered about it.

He looked up when Guiying came down the stairs.

Guiying was in the white button up shirt, brown shorts, Sambas, sunglasses pushed up on his head.

His own face.

His own hair, dark and slightly messy from sleep, no wig, no contacts, nothing between him and the world except himself.

Liuxian looked at him for a moment.

"You look good," he said.

"I know," Guiying said, and set his suitcase down at the bottom of the stairs.

Wang Chengli appeared from the corridor.

He looked at Guiying’s face, the real one, with the quiet warmth of someone seeing something they had been waiting to see.

"Have a safe trip, Master Xue," he said.

"Thank you Uncle Wang," Guiying said.

Zhang Wei was already outside with the car.

He opened the boot and loaded the cases without comment, though he did look at Liuxian’s outfit once with an expression that communicated several things and then looked away.

"Not a word," Liuxian said.

"I wasn’t going to say anything,"

Zhang Wei said.

They got in the car and pulled out of the driveway.

The city was still waking up outside, early morning light sitting low over the buildings, the streets quiet in the way they only were before seven.

Guiying leaned back in his seat and looked out the window.

"Are you nervous?" Liuxian said.

Guiying looked at him. "About what?"

"Going as yourself."

Guiying shrugged. "It’s fine. Nobody knows me there."

Liuxian looked at him for a moment then nodded.

Guiying looked back out the window.

The city continued waking up outside, indifferent and unhurried, entirely unaware that Xue Guiying was sitting in a Rolls Royce on his way to the airport for the first time in his life.