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Wang Zhi had lit more lanterns than usual that evening, giving what would normally be a dim room at this hour a warm afternoon glow. He felt warm, too, a prickle of sweat breaking over his skin beneath his robes. He was more than accustomed to that, though, never letting any discomfort make it to his face. He looked placid right now, or at least he hoped, as he tilted his chin up to look into Sui Zhou's eyes.
"Undress," he said, and let the corners of his mouth tick up a little as Sui Zhou did so immediately, with hurried practicality and no attempt to make the act enticing. Wang Zhi had seen him like this many times before, given the exact command before, before sitting at the sidelines to watch him and Tang Fan together. This was not undiscovered territory, he reminded himself, just an endeavor in getting a greater familiarity with the terrain. Sui Zhou turned away from him for a moment to put his clothing somewhere other than in a heap on the floor, and Wang Zhi used the opportunity to quietly gulp in a breath before returning to a picture of calm.
"Take your hair down, too," he said. Sui Zhou did so, running his fingers through it briefly to smooth out any tangles as it fell to frame his face. Wang Zhi wanted to do that. And he could — that was the point of this exercise. He supposed that was as good a place to start as any. "Now stand just there," he said, as he approached Sui Zhou, and reached up with both hands to brush his hair back away from his face. Sui Zhou let out a soft breath, and his eyelids fluttered shut. That was fine, Wang Zhi thought, and perhaps even preferable.
He let his fingers brush over Sui Zhou's cheeks. He'd kissed both men before, felt Sui Zhou's rougher whiskers and Tang Fan's nearly invisible stubble brushing over his own soft, smooth face. Now he ran his fingers along the edge of Sui Zhou's jaw, taking his time to feel where his beard was and wasn't eager to grow. Wang Zhi tapped his fingertips against Sui Zhou's lips, and smirked a little as it made him breathe out hot over them. He didn't try to kiss them, and Wang Zhi was pleased.
He spread his hand out over the breadth of Sui Zhou's neck, feeling the warmth of his skin and the rapid thrum of his pulse. They were beating nearly in time with each other, Wang Zhi thought as he stroked his thumb over the rise of the knob in Sui Zhou's throat. It bobbed under his touch as Sui Zhou swallowed. He chased it with his fingertips, and let out a soft exhale himself. He knew he wasn't a threat here, not really; even with both hands he had nothing like the strength to stop Sui Zhou's breath. But there were shadows in Sui Zhou's mind that would refuse to believe simple facts like that. It was an honor, truly, that Sui Zhou might keep them at bay for him. He hadn't moved at all, just like he'd been told.
He touched Sui Zhou's shoulders next, moving his hands along them as though he might be smoothing out fabric. He was broad here, and strong; Wang Zhi squeezed a little to feel how the muscle resisted. He touched Sui Zhou's biceps, too, and smirked a little as he felt him flex instinctively. He could pick Wang Zhi up and toss him over his shoulder with one arm, if he wanted. He'd certainly seen him do similar to Tang Fan a number of times, to Tang Fan's endless delight. He kept his arms at his sides now, though, and his fingers didn't even twitch towards Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi took a moment to look up to Sui Zhou's face again. His eyes were open again, but only barely, watching him. There was a look he had sometimes, a low simmering heat that Wang Zhi had seen rise to a boil many times. Seeing it now, with only the two of them in the room, made his hands go still as he felt... he felt things he wasn't quite sure how to name. He felt like he might want to bolt like a startled rabbit, or that he might want to stuff his fingers into Sui Zhou's mouth. What he felt was that he had better places to be looking at the moment, things that were much easier to sort out than the heat prickling through his skin and rising into his cheeks.
He lifted one of Sui Zhou's arms to tug a bit at his underarm hair, and couldn't help a soft laugh at the ticklish shiver that passed through him. If Tang Fan hadn't discovered that little vulnerability and exploited it, he'd be very disappointed in him. Wang Zhi lifted up Sui Zhou's arm higher and stroked alongside the very interesting curve of muscle on the underside, which rewarded him with another shiver. Sui Zhou's breath was different with this one, though, a heavier exhale, something that could be a sound if it tried. Wang Zhi had heard it before. He glanced downward, and just lightly smiled. Ah.
He'd seen Sui Zhou fully erect many times before, usually pumping into one end of Tang Fan or the other. Now, though, he was getting a much closer view, much earlier in the process. Usually by the time Sui Zhou undressed in his presence he was already aching for it, pushed so far while just waiting for the word to go. Wang Zhi let Sui Zhou's arm drop down and brushed fingers over his chest as he watched his still half-soft cock twitch in reaction, slowly filling out.
He wanted to touch it. Of course he did; that was the point of all this. Wang Zhi wanted to, and he was going to, but also he was not going to rush. He made a thoughtful little sound as he pressed his hands to Sui Zhou's pectoral muscles, in the manner he'd spied many men grope the breasts of the women in The Joyous Brothel, through the secret passages he'd watch from, from time to time. It made Sui Zhou shiver again. Wang Zhi dipped his head to watch Sui Zhou's cock thicken and jerk as he slowly rubbed at one of his nipples with his thumb.
Wang Zhi had to admit, he truly hadn't anticipated Sui Zhou's arousal would advance so quickly. He wasn't sure if he should be privately humiliated or not, that he had been so certain that no hands he laid on Sui Zhou would make him hard until he actively touched his cock. Heat still rose in his cheeks as he brushed his fingers over one of the scars on Sui Zhou's torso. He'd wanted to feel it soft in his hand, the way a normal man might feel when doing something as average as taking a piss. He'd wanted to make Sui Zhou hard even if he hadn't wanted to be so, with the touch of his hand. But here he'd had to do almost nothing at all, and Sui Zhou was already breathing hard, his cock getting harder.
Wang Zhi tried to make his sigh seem burdened, but it was shaky. He'd have another chance at this. That was terrifying to consider but he already knew it to be certain. He could do this as many times as he wanted to. Tang Fan wanted nothing more than for him to spend the night, tucked up between the two of them. The thought made Wang Zhi's heart feel like it might separate into pieces. But regardless of when, or how, if he wanted to feel Sui Zhou get hard in his hand, he'd be able to. Now he just had the opportunity to feel him hard, for him.
But not just yet. Wang Zhi kept his hands moving over Sui Zhou's body, just feeling where his skin was softer or rougher, where he could feel his bones beneath his flesh, where his muscles shifted in ways he would never have seen with his eyes. Wang Zhi had never spent nearly as much time or attention exploring his own body. He spent as much time as he needed to bathe, and no more; the thought of running his hands over himself like this felt unbearably pathetic. He didn't expect he could make his own skin prickle with gooseflesh, as Sui Zhou's did as Wang Zhi brushed fingers over his hip bones. He was certain he'd never get anything like that little sound that had just come up from Sui Zhou's chest. Never by himself, at least, he thought, then yanked himself away from that thought like a disobedient dog snapping towards something that would make it sick.
This was how he was used to seeing Sui Zhou when he was undressed, with cock flushed dark and standing tall, a faint bead of fluid forming at the tip. Wang Zhi took in a breath, held it for just long enough to hear the blood rushing in his ears, and then breathed out slowly as he let his fingertips just slightly brush Sui Zhou's cock. Sui Zhou made a low noise, and his cock jerked against Wang Zhi's fingers as though it had a mind of its own. He supposed it did, really, or he had to assume that to be the case, the way he saw men behave. This man behaved well, though, staying just where Wang Zhi told him to as he traced one fingertip along Sui Zhou's cock.
He hadn't expected it to feel soft. The softest skin he'd felt on Sui Zhou's body, as part of something so firm and hot. Wang Zhi could feel his cheeks burning as he looped his fingers around just a little, enough to tug on Sui Zhou's foreskin, drawing it back up a bit over the head of his cock. The wetness that had been forming there spilled a little on to Wang Zhi's fingers, and he drew his hand back to look at the faint shine against his skin. He brought his fingers up to his nose for a sniff, and found himself disappointed that any scent there was faint. For the flash of a second he considered flicking his tongue out to taste, but that — that was too far. Not that, not tonight.
Sui Zhou was loud when Wang Zhi brushed his fingers over his balls, a groan coming out of him like he'd been hit in the back. Wang Zhi had expected it, to a certain extent; he'd seen how Sui Zhou reacted when Tang Fan touched him here, but hearing it when he had the hot flesh in his own hands made him breathe out a sound himself, one soft and barely audible over Sui Zhou's panting. Wang Zhi cupped him in his palm, keeping his touch delicate as he felt one, and then the other, rolling and shifting beneath Sui Zhou's skin. He was so tender here, and he'd be so easy to hurt. Wang Zhi allowed himself just a moment to think about the hurt, an unavoidable burst of memory he'd known would emerge at some point this night. He drew another moan out of Sui Zhou with his touch, and let that thought sink back down again.
He could feel the heat in his cheeks, and knew he had to be flushed pink like a drunken man. He bit his lower lip, just for a moment, and heard Sui Zhou huff out a breath. When Wang Zhi looked up, Sui Zhou was staring at his mouth, hunger in his eyes. Wang Zhi took it in, letting that expression of lust work its way beneath his clothing and his skin, and when he stepped to Sui Zhou's side to escape it, he could still feel it sinking deeper into him. He let out a slow breath that made the ends of Sui Zhou's hair shift against his back, as Wang Zhi took a place behind him.
Out of the line of Sui Zhou's sight, he allowed himself a moment. Wang Zhi pressed a hand over his chest as though he could hold back the pounding of his heart, and leaned forward until his forehead nearly touched the back of Sui Zhou's neck. His lips brushed over Sui Zhou's hair, and he clenched his teeth against how good it felt. Wang Zhi felt confident in the control he had of most things in his life, but he hadn't yet learned how to stand above this part. He was no stranger to fear, but the things Sui Zhou and Tang Fan wanted from him — the things they made him want brought it in a new form: his own. His body made insistances and demands of him now, and he'd never been more aware of every part of it. There was no turn of cleverness that would let him escape now.
Wang Zhi deliberately let the strands of Sui Zhou's hair tickle over his lips and shut his eyes tight as he felt it all the way through his spine. That was enough of that moment. He put a little space between himself and Sui Zhou again to resume his examination. Sui Zhou was as absurdly ideal a shape of a man from the back as he was from the front, and Wang Zhi brushed his hair out of the way to feel the breadth of his shoulders down to the taper of his waist. Sui Zhou gasped when Wang Zhi grabbed his ass with both hands, and that let Wang Zhi bring a smirk back to his lips.
Wang Zhi pressed his fingers into muscles that he'd seen flexing many times as Sui Zhou thrust into Tang Fan, who regularly expressed disappointment that he couldn't get the views of Sui Zhou that Wang Zhi could. Wang Zhi brushed his thumbs along the crack of Sui Zhou's ass and watched another shiver ripple over his skin. Tang Fan had told him — Tang Fan told him many things about his lover, whether Wang Zhi wanted him to or not — that Sui Zhou actually did like being fucked himself, though he hadn't done so in a long time, and Tang Fan was not particularly interested in doing all the hard work that it seemed to entail. Wang Zhi had considered if there was an implication there, or even a request. He'd spent enough time with the ladies of the Joyous Brothel to know that there were artisans out there capable of crafting elegant substitutes for those who wanted to do the work of a cock without actually possessing one.
Wang Zhi rested his forehead against Sui Zhou's shoulder as he moved his hands to take hold of his hips. The thought swirled in him like a cookpot of boiling oil, with just as much potential to scorch and burn as to become something enticing. It wasn't that he couldn't imagine how it might feel, to have Sui Zhou bent over before him, getting fucked by some fine instrument of jade or bone. He could imagine it too much, in too many ways; Wang Zhi always had to consider every possibility, and all of the possibilities of this path were as terrifying as they were enticing. Wang Zhi let out a small sigh, and Sui Zhou made another sound at the feel of it on his skin. He would work through his agonies about it another time, when he had less pressing matters at hand.
Wang Zhi closed the space between them, his clothed front pressed to Sui Zhou's bare back. His warmth worked its way down to Wang Zhi's skin, and Wang Zhi matched the rhythm of his breathing with Sui Zhou's, as heavy as it was. He moved his hands from Sui Zhou's hips to wrap around his waist. His cheek pressed to Sui Zhou's shoulder, Wang Zhi just embraced him for a few moment, but just a few; anything resembling a hug felt more alien than whatever else had already occurred this evening. He kept himself tight against Sui Zhou's body as his hands moved again, though, over the tight muscles of his lower abdomen, the wiry strands of his pubic hair, and then around his cock.
Sui Zhou tensed in Wang Zhi's hold, but kept himself still — though, not entirely. His cock twitched in Wang Zhi's fingers, the only part of Sui Zhou's body that couldn't be fully reigned in by a soldier's discipline. A strange, silly thing, Wang Zhi thought as he stroked his thumb over the still surprisingly soft skin, over a thick vein. He could sometimes think himself better without it; men seemed to regularly make idiotic decisions when following whatever direction it pointed them. He tightened his grip and Sui Zhou moaned, fully throated.
Of course he wondered, though. What feeling was spreading through Sui Zhou right now that made him make sounds like that? Never in his life had Wang Zhi made a sound anything like that. He pulled another one out of Sui Zhou by tugging at his foreskin until it rolled up over the head of his cock. He'd let out some sighs of contentment with a good meal or good wine, but nothing like the uncontrolled, nearly animal sounds he heard out of Sui Zhou and Tang Fan. It reminded him sometimes of the sounds of pain he would hear in the course of his work. He wasn't sure he wanted to feel something like that, with that sort of inescapable intensity.
He tasted salt, and realized he'd pressed his mouth to Sui Zhou's faintly sweat-sheened shoulder. He made a note to laugh at himself later; even a man like him, not even a man at all, could never keep his body fully in check. Wang Zhi allowed himself to melt into Sui Zhou and stroke his cock with a slow, exploratory pace, moving his hand in the ways he'd observed the two of them touching each other, and how he'd rarely imagined doing himself. His hands were smaller and softer than either of theirs, but they were bringing Sui Zhou pleasure just as well. What could it ever be like, to be capable of feeling something like that?
He could never know, of course; as useful a thought as wondering what it would be like to walk to the moon. A coal cooled enough by now to hold in his hands for a while, but still able to burn him if he didn't let go. Wang Zhi let the fluid leaking from Sui Zhou's cock pool hot in his hand briefly, smeared it along his length, and after one more full, heavy squeeze of his fingers, let go entirely and stepped away from Sui Zhou. The moan that came out of him was broken and desperate, and Wang Zhi smiled a little. He didn't take particular pleasure in causing pain, but he also wasn't immune to the satisfaction of a well-enacted bit of cruelty.
Wang Zhi took a head-clearing breath, collected himself as much as he could with his flushed cheeks and sweat prickling on his forehead, and walked back around to face Sui Zhou. He was unbearably handsome like this, still rooted to the exact spot Wang Zhi had told him to stand in, shoulders shaking as he breathed like a burdened ox. Wang Zhi stood back from him, folded his arms behind his back, and tilted up his chin. "That's enough," he said, with a steady voice, and added after a moment, "You did well."
And with those words, Sui Zhou came instantly, not a hand on him, groaning through gritted teeth and shuddering out of position as his cock spurted ejaculate into the space between them, much to Wang Zhi's intense surprise. His mouth fell open as he watched orgasm — his, this one was his, he owned it, he thought with a dizzying, intoxicating rush — wash over Sui Zhou's body and spill out of him. Something prickled in his eyes but he blinked it back. "Very good, Guangchuan," he said, softly.
Sui Zhou closed the space between them quickly, enough to make Wang Zhi's heart race in instinctive, defensive fear, and took his face in both of his hands before kissing him, hard and hungry. When Wang Zhi recovered himself enough to kiss back, he found a hard moan come out from his throat. An uncontrolled sound, but caught in Sui Zhou's mouth and kept there, safe from anything in the world but the two of them.