50 Chapter 50- Sneaking Through the Back Door

Translation notes: baobei = babe/darling/treasure etc. Affectionate pet name for females to use in reference to their partner.

Zhu tou= fool/stupid. Affectionate reference by girls to their partner.

Oppa= do I really need to translate this? It's Korean for older brother (used by girls) and can take a flirtatious note. It has become part of the Chinese lexicon meaning 'handsome man' etc (Apparently there are cafes that advertise their staff as Oppas. I need to go to one of those cafes. In a non-creepy, purely for research, manner.)

Aegyo= again, does this need translation? Korean for... basically acting cute/flirtatious... if you're confused, look it up. YouTube will do a better job at explaining it than I can.

"What the actual fuck, KO?"

It wasn't often that Hao Mei cursed. And it was even rarer for him to curse in English, but in this case he felt the situation warranted some serious swearing. Waking up sore and slightly achy wasn't exactly new, but waking up looking like he was wrapped with bright red ribbon? That was new.

His torso was criss-crossed with deep red lines, the edges tinted with purple and when he gingerly ran a finger along the thickest of the lines he hissed at the tenderness. What the hell? It looked like he'd been attacked by an octopus with venomous tentacles. The red bands of abraded skin wrapped around his stomach and his forearms. When he lay on his back with his arms by his side, it was easy to see that the lines matched up. Which made sense when he thought about the previous night. He was trying to decide whether the heat in his face was from anger, embarrassment or remembered arousal, when KO came into the bedroom carrying a tray. The hacker froze at the look on Mei's face then gave him a sheepish half-smile and put the try on the bedside table.

"I made congee for breakfast and have some medicines for you." KO sat next to Mei and reached to trace the lines marking the younger man's white skin. His fingers hovered just above the bruising and he winced in sympathy.

"They look sore."

"They are." Mei huffed and crossed his arms but that rubbed on a mark over his chest which hurt and all he could do was flop his arms back onto the bed and lie there like a lump. He glared at KO. Apparently he was going with anger.

One of the bowls on the tray was filled with the green, succulent leaves of the Aloe Vera that Mei had growing in a pot on the balcony. It had been the first living thing in the apartment, delivered before he managed to escape the office to come home for the first time. Having spent years working in various kitchens, KO had stressed the importance of having an aloe vera growing in a pot for easy first aid in the case of burns, and when he'd thought about furnishing his new apartment Mei had immediately ordered a plant. And now he was busy thinking of everything other than what KO was planning.

He'd sliced the leaves length ways and now gently covered the lines on Mei's body with thin sheets of the gel filled tubes.

"Does that hurt?"

"Cold."

"I put them in the fridge while I made breakfast. The cold will help," KO's eyebrows furrowed as he carefully placed leaves on the bands wrapping around Mei's forearms. "Stay like this while you eat, and then I'll put them on your back."

"Ah, genius? How am I supposed to eat? If I move my arms the aloe vera will fall off."

"I'll feed you." He matched words to actions and carefully blew on a spoonful of congee, cooling it down before lifting it towards Mei's lips. Mei thought about refusing- he was a grown man and being spoon-fed was rather childish- but his stomach rumbled and won that argument before it could even start.

Mei ate in silence, not sure whether he should address what had happened the previous night or just leave it be. KO's silence didn't give him much of a gauge as to how the older man felt about it, but the way that he was refusing to meet Mei's eyes was interesting. Could it be, I'm not the only one feeling awkward? This was no good; if he'd learned anything about sex, then it was that things like this needed to be talked out. Looked like it was up to him to start the conversation. Surprise surprise.

"KO, we need to..."

"Mei, I'm sorry..."

They looked up at each other when their words collided mid air.

"You go first." "You go First."

"Jinx." "Jinx."

Their eyes met, Mei's mouth twitched and KO's eyes sparkled.

"Well, that worked as an ice breaker," Mei laughed. "Wonder if we're about to say the same thing?"

"I'm sorry." KO blurted it out, looking back down at the bowl of congee and stirring it with the spoon.

"Okaaaaay...." Mei frowned. "That wasn't what I was going to say. Why are you sorry?"

KO looked up.

"I hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me."

"LOOK AT YOU!" The shout burst from KO's lips and his fingers clenched around the bowl on his lap. "I woke up this morning because you whimpered in your sleep. You can't say I didn't hurt you."

"KO..." Mei sighed and all anger evaporated. Not that he'd been angry at KO, more at himself. Which it seemed he needed to make clear. "Look at me. Look in my eyes when I tell you this because I need you to believe me."

He waited until KO met his gaze, the hacker's eyes sheened with fear.

"You. Did. Not. Hurt. Me. Yes, I'm hurt... but it was a joint effort. Actually," he thought back on the events of the previous night. " If either of us needs to take responsibility for what happened, then it would be me."

"What? No..."

Mei stroked KO's thigh with fingers, wishing he could lift his hand to touch KO properly but not game to face his partner's wrath if the aloe on his arm slipped. "Yes. Did I ask you to stop? Even once?"

"No."

"Did you get the impression, at all, that I wasn't enjoying myself?"

KO's eyes darkened with satisfaction at the memory. "No."

"Next time... let's establish some ground rules first. Okay?"

"Next time?"

"Oh baobei... there will be a next time."

KO caught Mei's hand in his own, their fingers tangling on the sheets. He leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on Mei's forehead.

"Roll over and I'll fix your back for you."

Mei obediently turned onto his stomach, burying his face into the pillow that smelled like spicy chocolate. He'd asked Wei Wei one day what she thought KO smelled like, and the look of confusion on her face made him hurriedly take it back. Apparently he was the only one who associated chilli chocolate with the man currently placing aloe vera along the markings on his back. His eyes closed as he melted beneath KO's hands, much like he had the night before.

Mei had stumbled from his bedroom, yawning after his late afternoon nap, to find that KO had filled his dining table with all his favourite foods. Spicy poached fish, sautéed hairy crab, and even salted egg chicken wings, graced the table and made his stomach rumble and mouth overflow with drool. The hacker had put all of Mei's new kitchen accessories to good use and Mei dug in to the feast without hesitation.

"Is it good?"

"It's so good," the words were barely audible around a mouth full of chicken. "KO, you're so talented. Who would have though the second-to-none hacker was once a cook? That's so legendary. In comparison, I suddenly feel a bit inadequate."

KO simply smiled at Mei's unabashed enjoyment of the meal. Watching his partner forgo table manners in favour of food was gross... yet heart warming.

"KO? Which college did you graduate from?"

"Nine-year compulsory education."

"Eh?" Mei froze with a chicken wing halfway to his mouth.

"I lost my family when I was fourteen. I had no money so I couldn't continue school." The matter-of-fact ness with which KO revealed a such a major part of his life, stunned Mei. As much as he didn't see eye to eye with his parents (to put it simply), he always had them as a safety net. Failure might mean having to conform to his parents' wishes, but it wouldn't leave him destitute.

"You're doing quite fine now. You're more skilled than us actual university students. You might have lost to laosan before but it definitely wasn't a matter of skill. It was because you have a noble character." The bare chicken bone was waved to illustrate Mei's point.

"I know."

"I was just being polite."

KO raised an eyebrow at Mei then shrugged.

"What was that look for?"

"Nothing."

"It wasn't nothing. That was a smug, 'that's what you think' look...." Mei sucked in a breath. "No! Did you deliberately lose to laosan? But why?"

"You're smart, Mr Actual University Student. Use those brains."

"For me?"

"Don't ask stupid questions. Especially when you already know the answer."

"There's no such thing as stupid questions."

"What are you? Five? Anyone who says that has never had a meal with you and the Terrible Two."

Mei pursed his lips as he thought about KO's words. He couldn't really refute any part of that statement. Rather than waste energy on a pointless argument, he concentrated once more on the food. It was an effort, but he managed to polish off everything that KO had cooked. Leaning back in his chair, Mei watched KO start to clear the table.

"I plan on living here."

"Uh?" KO stood next to the table, plates piled in his hands and eyes fixated on the table. It wasn't that interesting a table and Mei wasn't sure why KO was refusing to look up at him.

"I'll cook; I'll wash the dishes; I'll mop the floors; I'll do the laundry; I will do everything." KO finally lifted his head to look at Mei properly. "Do you want me to live here?"

"Zhu tou." Mei shook his head as KO stepped back, face closing off at his words. As the older man silently carried the plates to the sink and began rinsing them off, Mei went rummaging through a box of bits and pieces next to the front door. Eventually he found what he was looking for and turned around, triumphantly holding his fist in the air. "what... what are you doing?"

In the process of putting his bag over his shoulder, KO sighed. "I'm going home."

"Hey. Idiot. What home?" Mei waved his hand in front of KO's face and when he finally looked at it, opened his fist. A set of keys dangled from his fingers, attached to a key ring with three connected stars.

"What?"

"They're yours." Putting the keys in KO's hand, Mei closed the man's fingers over them. "I was going to be all romantic and shit and ask you to move in officially... but you beat me to it. Again. Not like you were doing all that much asking though."

Lips pressed tight, KO looked down at the keys in his hand. His arm quivered with tension, like a string pulled too tight. Mei frowned.

"I understand if you need to think about it. Me asking you to move in is slightly different to you moving in because you need a place to stay." Mei chewed on his lower lip and stuck his hands in his pockets to stop them shaking. "It's not like life will be drama free, what with my parents and everything..."

"That's family." A new statue appeared to have made itself at home in Mei's dining room- KO frozen in place and unable to drag his eyes away from the keys with their falling-star key-ring.

"That's right," Mei scuffed his foot on the tiles. "Why don't you have family? Even if you lost your parents, didn't you have someone else to look after you?" He skirted around the question of exactly what happened to KO's parents, feeling that they were both too emotional to risk opening that Pandora's chest.

"My parent's fell in love and neither of their parent's approved. They were disowned after their marriage. I don't even know if my grandparents know I was born."

"Eh? Both sides? Was falling in love so bad then?"

"She was Korean and he was Chinese."

"That's not so bad..."

"South Korean. And both sets of grandparents were very traditional."

"Ah." Mei's heart clenched. "Would they have accepted us?"

"I don't know. They were talking about returning to Korea, but that never happened."

Putting his hands over KO's, tucking the keys away, Mei stepped closer to his partner. "I'm glad they didn't go. I wouldn't have met you then...." He grinned as a thought crossed his mind.

Taking a step back, he tucked his fingers into the buttons of KO's shirt and looked up at him through his lashes. "If you'd gone back to Korea... I could call you Oppa...."

Neither man was prepared for the effect that Mei's aegyo would have on KO. His hands shot out to grip Mei's arms, dragging the smaller man's body flush to his own as his lips took Mei's in a searing kiss. Heat shot through Mei's body and he moaned into the kiss. Wrapping his arms around KO's neck, he pushed himself against the other man but the closer contact only made him more eager. Sliding his hands down KO's chest, he fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, pulling away from the kiss to grumble when button refused to cooperate. His nails scraped against the hacker's chest and KO groaned, digging his own fingers into Mei's hips.

"Get... it... off..." he tugged at KO's shirt with each word and when KO slid the fabric down his arms, Mei shucked his own shirt over his head. Chest to chest, skin to skin, they kissed; tongues tangling as they panted against each other's mouth. Restless and feeling like he could crawl out of his skin, Mei ran his nails up the side of KO's torso.

"Heh... don't do that..." The skin under Mei's fingers twitched and KO reached up to move his hands away. As soon as he let go of Mei's hands, they slid back to the ticklish spot.

"Mei..." KO narrowed his eyes at his partner.

Unrepentant, Mei wriggled his fingers against KO's ribs, laughing up at him when he couldn't help flinching away.

"Mei..."

"Oppa?"

"Fuck, Mei." KO caught the teasing fingers with one hand, pinning them together between their bodies as he caught Mei's chin; tugging it so the younger man could only look up at him. "You need to stop teasing me."

Having his hands caught didn't deter Mei; he rolled his hips provocatively against KO's groin. "Stop teasing?"

He bit his lip and grinned slyly. "Make me..."

The tussle that ensued could have been straight from Mei's dorm days. As in the past, he was no match for his opponent; however, wrestling with his friends never made his heart race; never made his skin tingle; never made his breath catch his throat; never made him moan when he was pinned to the floor...

He also never ended up naked with his arms pinned to his side with a tie from his bathrobe.

Straddling Mei, KO stared down at him, his eyes hooded but with the blush on his cheekbones giving away his arousal. Unwilling to admit defeat, Mei rocked his hips, trying to dislodge the man sitting his lap. KO barely shifted as Mei twisted beneath him. When the younger man finally lay still, panting and heart racing so loud he thought for sure KO would be able to hear it, he frowned up at KO.

"Why do you still have your pants on?" Mei whined at the unfairness of the situation. How did he lose so badly he ended up more than naked while KO still had his pants? It wasn't Mei's fault that KO was ticklish, or that he had a susceptibility to pet names. His lips pursed in a pout when KO smirked at him. The hacker shifted on Mei's lap and Mei groaned as his dick reacted to the attention. It had started to harden when KO was tying him up, but there was no denying that being trapped beneath his lover was turning him on even further.

KO gently flicked Mei's nipple, watching as his breath escaped with a quivery little moan. Mei's physical response to their play hadn't escaped KO's notice. He leaned forward to lick at the other nipple while his fingers kept playing- slowly rolling the pink bud harder between his fingers until he pinched it at exactly the same time as his mouth covered the other side. Mei's body jerked at the dual pleasure and pain sensation and when KO lifted his head, his lover's face was flushed and his eyes were closed.

"M....mo...more..." Mei's whimpers tested KO's self-control. Continuing to roll the budded nipple between his fingers, KO kissed and licked his way from Mei' chest to his neck, grazing his teeth along the younger man's white skin and feeling himself heat at the trail of pink marks left blooming in his wake. When KO's breath ghosted up Mei's he shivered beneath him. When his lips softly traced the curve of his ear and KO's husky voice murmured "E-mei" into his ear, his body bucked and he unconsciously fought against the tie binding him. He wanted to touch his partner, to drag nails down his back, to hold him close...

The terry-towelling tie rubbed at his arms, abrading his sensitive skin but it was just one more sensation added to all the others. He could feel KO's erection rubbing against his own, could feel their pre-cum making his slacks damp. The heat above his groin and the heat at his ear connected, while the abrasion of his arms joined the pinching of his nipple and his body shook, trembling... even as it begged for more.

It was a barely conscious thought, and maybe if he'd known KO's response in advance Mei would have refrained from speaking...

"If you like oppa ... then what would baobei do to you?" He grinned at KO as he undulated beneath him- just because he didn't have his hands free, didn't mean he was defenceless. KO's eyes darkened as Mei's body rubbed against his own. Without speaking, he swooped in, taking Mei's lips in a bruising kiss as he ground his hips against Mei's groin. His hands were rough on Mei's body, drawing whimpers from the bound man. One hand snaked through Mei's hair, pulling his head off the ground as KO continued to devour his mouth. The other hand wrapped around Mei's erection, eliciting a groan that vibrated through their joined mouths.

Arms trapped next to his body, held in place with a hand in his hair and one on his cock, and unable even to move his legs as KO shifted his weight off Mei's lap and onto his thighs, Mei was overwhelmed with sensation. When his lover grazed the tip of his cock with his nail, he shuddered as his ejaculation seared on his stomach. The euphoria of his orgasm seeped through his bones, leaving him limp in his lover's hands even as those hands deftly worked his cock to hardness once more.

Unknown to Mei, when KO pulled himself away from Mei's mouth, the younger man's moans were punctuated with pet names- begging his baobei for more. Grabbing Mei's hips, KO flipped him over even as he pulled his hips higher. The carpet of the lounge room floor rubbed against Mei's cheek as he turned his head, his weight balanced on his upper torso. His knees were bent and KO's hands guided his hips to push his arse into the air. Mei's hands couldn't help balance himself but KO placed them on Mei's cheeks before rocking back onto his heels and admiring the view.

"Open yourself for me, E-Mei." The rasp in KO's voice sent shivers down Mei's spine as he blindly obeyed the instruction, pulling his cheeks apart as KO watched.

"Good boy, E-Mei," KO left Mei on the lounge room floor and ducked into the bedroom. He knew his lover enough to know that their supplies would already be in his top drawer, even though KO hadn't even been over yet. When he returned, lube in hand, he was surprised to see that Mei had stayed in place, exposing himself for KO's return. His lover's eyes were glazed over, staring into the distance. Settling behind Mei, KO couldn't help leaning forward and placing kiss at the base of Mei's spine before moving to bite down on the soft flesh of his arse. A shuddering breath was Mei's only response.

"You're so hot... such a good boy..." Crooning at his lover, KO applied lube to his fingers before pushing his index finger into Mei's hole. The heat swallowed the digit and he could feel Mei quivering despite how still he was trying to stay.

"What do you want, E-Mei? Do you want more of this..." he curled his finger inside Mei as he added a second.

"No more... just.. just..."

KO leaned over Mei's back, his fingers constantly moving even as his shift in weight drove them deeper into Mei's body. "Just what, love?"

"You. Just want you... now. Ple...ease..."

One movement pushed KO's pants down enough for him to grab his cock, coating it with lube before aligning himself with Mei's hole. The man beneath him tilted his hips, rubbing himself against the head of the cock pressing at his entrance. With one hand on those hips, KO also grabbed the bathrobe tie, using it as leverage to pull Mei backwards, impaling himself inside Mei's tight heat in one thrust. A cry escaped Mei's lips- thin and needy as he rocked his hips backwards, taking KO deeper. The hacker cursed under his breath when Mei clenched around him. He wasn't sure what was hotter- Mei's needy body or the whimpers slipping past his lips.

The room filled with Mei's whimpers and the fleshy thud of skin on skin as KO rammed into Mei. Their panting became indistinguishable from the other and Mei slowly stopped moving against KO- held upright by KO's hands on his hips and in the tie around his torso. Mei's vision blurred and his attention narrowed to the feel of KO pushing himself in to his body. Head down and arse up, each stroke brushed over the bundle of nerves and his balls grew tight, tingling with the nearness of his orgasm. He tried to tell KO he was close but couldn't find his words, barely managing unintelligible moans and cries that only seemed to drive the hacker to higher heights. When he came with a groan that was half cry, Mei's mind floated above the sensations overwhelming his body. He could still feel the slick slide of KO inside him, he felt his lover dig fingers into his hips and he came, felt the heat from KO's cum deep inside... he could feel his lover disengage from him, lie him gently on his side and release the binding of his arms. He could feel the warm cloth as KO wiped him clean, felt the arms gather him up and place him gently in the bed before drawing him close. He could feel it all, but from a distance. Overloaded with sensation, his mind distanced itself from the physical.

As his eyes fluttered shut, darkness swallowing him, his last conscious thought was that they would have to try that again sometime.