36 Chapter 36- Don'st Talk With Your Mouth Full

"We're going to play a game..." Mei dumped the basket of clothes on the floor and sat himself down next to it, opposite KO who was glued to the couch in confusion. "I'm going to ask a question. Your answer determines what I do next."

KO nodded to show that he was following along.

"Answer quickly, truthfully, and with a response I like... and I take a piece of clothing off." KO's eyebrow rose. This was not what he'd been expecting but so far he thought he might like this game. Mei wasn't finished explaining the rules though.

"Hesitate, and I'm going to assume you're trying to work out what I want to hear. And I'll put something else on."

And.... there was the catch.

"Tell me something I don't like, and I'll put something on. Tell me a lie, and I'll put something on." Mei rattled the washing basket. "If I empty this basket... we're done."

"Then what?"

"No. Not done for the game. Done. Completely." A clear coldness settled on Mei's face and KO felt his heart clench. All of a sudden, he really didn't want to play this game... he sighed. All Mei was really asking for was honesty, and he'd only resorted to these measures because he'd been too chickenshit to speak openly.

KO nodded. "Let's play."

"Start from the beginning: How long have you known I was E-Mei?"

"Umm..." As KO fumbled with the very first question, Mei reached in to the basket and grabbed a shirt.

"Fuck. Slow down, Mei. It's not that simple an answer." He rubbed his forehead. "How about I tell you in stages, you decide what each stage is worth?"

Pausing while doing the shirt up, Mei thought about it for a moment before his hands fell away from the buttons. "Okay. But the shirt stays on for not doing this from the get go."

"Fair trade," KO took a deep breath, then held up one finger. "First- did I know E-Mei was a man? No. I suspected- there were things you would say that made it seem like you were male- but like you said, we both left the question of gender unasked."

Mei unbuttoned the shirt he'd just done up.

"Aren't you taking it off?"

"It doesn't sound like you were finished."

"Shit. Okay. I knew E-Mei was in Beijing and you'd let slip about being at Qing University. So I took the cafeteria job."

"Why?"

"To meet you. That day we arranged to talk, if we got along well then I was going to suggest meeting at the cafeteria before my next shift."

"But I never spoke to you."

"No... but you disappeared as soon as you heard my voice. That confirmed it for me- E-Mei was a renyao."

Mei slowly took off the shirt. "So you knew you were talking to a guy?" He wanted to ask were you attracted to the renyao or to me? But he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. Dealing with his own shift in sexuality was confusing enough... he didn't want to add his partner's confusion to the mix.

"I didn't know for certain. I just knew that the first person I'd been interested in, enough to find myself in the start of an online relationship, was a gamer going by the name of E-Mei. To be honest," KO cleared his throat. "It was a relief to find that I could still be interested in someone. I'd never had a relationship like this before. And I'd started to think there was something wrong with me."

"What?" Mei stared at him, wide-eyed. "Never?"

"Never." KO held his hand up. "Those are questions for another day. So..." he looked pointedly at the work shirt Mei had started the 'game' in.

Mei smiled and slid it off his shoulders. "Then?"

"Then..." another deep breath. He closed his eyes so he couldn't see Mei's face. "Then I met you in the cafeteria."

"And you knew I was E-Mei." The disappointment in Mei's voice was clear.

"No!" KO hurried to correct his misunderstanding. "I didn't. I looked up one day and someone was standing in front of me with a smile that made my heart stop and when I got home that night I realised that I didn't remember a thing from the afternoon except that smile."

He was rewarded with the same smile, and the removal of both socks.

"I started looking for you at lunchtime but couldn't even say hello." He shrugged. "I thought that was because I was feeling guilty- I'd never stopped wondering if maybe, one day, I'd overhear someone calling E-Mei in conversation. So it was confusing to be attracted to someone while being interested in someone else."

That surprised a laugh from Mei. "Well, that's honesty." He pulled his undershirt over his head and KO's breath caught in his throat. "Earth to KO?"

"Huh?"

"I asked, when did you find out E-Mei was me?"

"Ah..." he rubbed the back of his neck but when Mei reached for the undershirt the words tumbled from his mouth. "The night you all came to the restaurant celebrating Laoda finding Bei Wei Wei. Somehow, you got my number and I had yours and when you got drunk I heard you telling Xiao Nai that he was lucky Wei Wei wasn't a renyao like E-Mei because you would have turned him down."

A blushing Mei buried his face in his hands. "I didn't."

"You did!" KO laughed at the memory. "You have no idea how relieved I was... the person I was interested in, and the person I was attracted to, were one and the same!"

"That does make it easier." Still refusing to look up and his ears tinged pink, Mei pulled his belt free.

KO looked at it contemplatively. "What do we do if you end up naked but still have questions you want to ask?"

The pink of his ears darkened. "Wait and see."

They sat in silence for a moment, each thinking about what had already been disclosed. It was Mei who spoke up next.

"We were friends very quickly, but you never asked me about my gamer tag. What if it wasn't me?"

KO shifted uncomfortable on the couch.

"You checked?"

He bit his lip and looked away. Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention and he jerked his head back around to see Mei putting the undershirt back on.

"Maybe if I reword it, you'll answer. Otherwise I'm putting the belt and the shirt back on... When and how did you confirm that I was E-Mei?"

KO sighed. "I set an alert to your account in the game and had the trace already set up to go. When you signed in it was easy to follow you back to your computer and access the webcam. All I had to do was wait for you to sign back in. Which you eventually did."

Mei thought back to the last time he'd logged in to the account... and the timely text message he'd received. The undershirt stayed on, but KO counted himself lucky that nothing new had been added.

"So you've known since then... and never said anything..."

"Because I had you. And getting to know you in person, was so much more than getting to know E-Mei."

Mei smiled and rose up to kneel between KO's knees. "That deserves a kiss." He pressed his lips against KO's, eyes starting in to the other man's; a soft touch of mouth to mouth that should have been a mere peck but was enough to have them both leaning toward each other even more. Mei pulled away, lingering for a moment with his lips just above KO's, their breath mingling. "Once you'd hacked my computer the first time... how many times did you access my webcam?"

KO's eyes widened and he pulled completely away from Mei. "What?"

He rose from the couch, stepping past Mei and pacing across the lounge room. "What kind of a man do you take me for?"

"You'd already hacked my laptop once... why not assume you'd done it again?"

"I only did it to find you! Once I knew where you were, there was no need to do it again!" KO's voice rose and he clenched his fists. "It was bad enough doing it that one time, but I thought it was worth invading your privacy to make certain. If I wanted to see you after that, all I had to do was text."

Mei froze. He'd never seen KO angry before and he definitely hadn't meant to hurt him. He'd been so caught up in his own confusion that he hadn't thought about what his question would mean to KO. And it was true... now he knew when KO had found out, he could also see that it was when the regular text messages had started- initiated by KO more frequently than himself.

"I'm sorry." Mei stood and quickly stripped the undershirt off once more. He stood in front of KO and slowly placed his hands on the other man's arms. He could feel the tension in them as KO vibrated with anger tinged with hurt. "That was cruel of me. I didn't think about what I was saying."

His hands moved from KO's arms to his waist, fingers splaying along his side. "I'm sorry."

Closing his eyes, KO took a deep breath then leaned his forehead against Mei's. "Apology accepted... if you get rid of the pants as well."

Mei grinned and unzipped the fly of his slacks. "You drive a hard bargain."

The slacks hit the floor and KO froze, gaping. "Were you like that all day?"

"Hmm." A naked Mei ran his hands up KO's chest. "I haven't been back to my apartment to get the rest of my clothes and started running low on supplies."

KO ran his hands down Mei's back, sliding them over his arse and cupping it gently. "You have more questions?"

"Umm..." Mei bit his lip as KO's fingers kneaded his cheeks, rubbing his naked groin against the older man's jeans. "The hacking competition..."

KO smiled when he ran his fingers up Mei's spine and the younger man curved in to his touch, eyes fluttering closed. "That wasn't a question."

"What wasn't?"

"The hacking competition...." Both hands on Mei's arse, he rolled his hips forward slightly and smiled as the other man caught his breath.

"The hacking competition... you let Xiao Nai win, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"W-w-why?"

"I wanted to be by your side." He dipped his head and nibbled at Mei's ear.

"I wanted to see you every day." His lips moved from the ear, down his neck to the sensitive spot where neck and shoulder met. Teeth lightly grazed the skin and Mei shuddered in his arms.

"And I wanted you to see me." He bit Mei's neck, concentrating more on leaving a badge of ownership, than on the conversation.

"I-i-i-diot..." Mei groaned as KO's teeth on his neck sent a pulse straight to his cock. "I already saw you. Every time I had a rough day- at school or at work- I headed straight to the restaurant. When I was stressed or needed company, you were the only one I thought of."

Mei opened his eyes, pulling back to cup KO's face with trembling hands. "It's been you for months, KO. Even before I realised it myself."

Their kiss was a slow tangle of tongues, drowning in sensation and arms holding each other tightly.

KO was breathing hard when they separated. "Any other questions?"

Fingers clumsy with desire, Mei shook his head as he fumbled with the button of KO's jeans. "Only one more..."

He finally flicked the button open and pulled the zip down as he sank to his knees in front of KO. As Mei's fingers slid inside the jeans and curled around the warm length, KO's breath hitched. "What... what question?"

Mei mouthed at the cloth revealed through the open fly, tonguing KO as he looked up his body. "Be with me?"

"Huh?" His fingers burrowed in to Mei's hair and he tried desperately not to roll his hips against Mei's mouth. "What do you mean? Aren't we...?"

"We kind of just... happened." As he spoke, Mei tugged at KO's underwear until he could finally reach what he was after. He licked the tip and grinned when KO's fingers convulsed in his hair. "We never established us... and maybe that would help. So... be with me?"

KO opened his eyes, groaning as he took in the sight of a naked Mei kneeling at his feet with his tongue tracing up and down the side of his cock. There was something in the visual- being fully dressed while his naked partner laved at him with his tongue- that turned him on even further.

"What was it you told me? Acqui-fuck-acquiescence a-acquired via coercion... fuck, Mei..."

His hips rolled as Mei slid his open mouth down his length, nose bumping against the hair crinkled above his groin. A hot tongue rolled against him, pressing him further down Mei's throat. "Yes."

Mei hummed his pleasure at KO's agreement and bobbed his head up and down. His balance was shaky so he held on to KO's thighs and could feel them tremble as the man- his man- reacted to every suck and swallow of his mouth. Concentrating completely on his partner, Mei lost himself in the experience.

Bobbing his head, quick and shallow, made KO pant. Running his tongue along the head and flicking it at the hole in the tip made KO groan. Following that with swallowing him as far down as he could, feeling him bump against the back of his throats and trying to relax against the reflexive gag, made KO's hips jerk and his fingers clench in his hair. Wrapping his thumb and middle finger around the base, squeezing gently as he sucked down KO's cock, made him swear. He groaned around the length in his mouth and felt KO's thighs tremble under his hands.

"Mei... fuck... don't..." The fingers in Mei's hair tried to pull him off but he growled, making KO's eyes roll back as the sound vibrated against his length. With a shout, KO spilled himself down Mei's throat. It was reflex for Mei to swallow and KO's knees buckled, held upright by Mei's hands on his thighs.

Mei kept him in his mouth until he stopped cumming, finally releasing him; clean and replete. He smiled up at the man, unconsciously biting his lower lip. "Good answer."

With a barked laugh, KO pulled Mei upright, wrapping his arms around the still naked man. "You had my dick in your mouth... what else was I going to say?"

Mei shrugged.

"Ask me again?"

"Be with me?"

With a finger underneath his chin, KO gently tilted Mei's face up. "Yes." Their eyes fluttered shut as their lips met- softly, gently. KO's hands roamed over Mei's bare back, while Mei tucked his hands into KO's back pockets.

It was hours- or maybe only minutes- later that KO pulled away from Mei. "We need a shower."

"Saving water?"

"Mandarin duck bath."

Mei smiled. "Yes."