The kiss slowed everything down again.
Xu Chen felt it happen immediately.
Not the desire between them—that remained intense enough to leave his pulse unstable every time Aum touched him—but something underneath it softened further, deepening into a kind of closeness Xu Chen had never experienced before.
Aum kissed him carefully even now.
Even while visibly affected.
Even while his breathing had long since lost its earlier steady rhythm.
Even while his fingers remained beneath the edge of Xu Chen's shirt, warm against exposed skin in a way that kept sending heat slowly through Xu Chen's entire body.
Still careful.
Still waiting.
Xu Chen realized suddenly that Aum had not taken a single thing from him tonight without permission.
The understanding hit deeper than desire ever could.
Xu Chen pulled back slightly, breathing uneven now.
Aum immediately became still.
Concern moved visibly through his expression before he even spoke.
"Did I—"
Xu Chen kissed him once softly before he could finish.
"No," he whispered.
Aum relaxed instantly afterward.
God.
Xu Chen's chest hurt from how much trust existed inside such a small reaction.
Aum looked at him carefully.
"You changed emotional state."
Xu Chen laughed weakly under his breath.
"Yeah."
"What happened."
Xu Chen looked at him for several long seconds.
Then answered honestly.
"I realized you keep touching me like I'm something important."
The silence afterward became devastatingly soft.
Aum's fingers moved slightly against his waist beneath the fabric of his shirt.
"You are important."
The answer came immediately.
No hesitation.
No embarrassment.
Just truth.
Xu Chen closed his eyes briefly because honestly there needed to be limits on how much emotional damage one person could do in a single night.
"Aum," he murmured softly, "you really don't understand what you sound like sometimes."
"I understand that my statements affect you strongly."
"That's not the same thing."
A faint pause.
"Should it be."
Xu Chen laughed quietly again.
Warm.
Overwhelmed.
Completely gone for him already.
The room felt smaller now somehow.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
The space between them had narrowed until Xu Chen no longer knew how to separate desire from tenderness anymore. Every kiss carried both. Every touch carried both.
Aum's hand slid slowly higher beneath the edge of his shirt.
Xu Chen inhaled sharply.
The reaction escaped before he could stop it.
Aum froze immediately afterward.
Not uncertain.
Waiting.
Xu Chen looked at him.
Really looked.
At the restraint in him.
The patience.
The terrifying amount of care behind every movement tonight.
Xu Chen reached for his wrist gently.
"You don't have to stop every time I react."
Aum's gaze sharpened instantly.
"You reacted intensely."
"Yes." Xu Chen's voice lowered slightly. "In a good way."
Warmth moved visibly through Aum's expression afterward.
Not arrogance.
Relief.
That somehow affected Xu Chen even more.
Aum touched him again carefully after that, fingers brushing slowly across warm skin beneath his shirt while Xu Chen tried unsuccessfully to maintain coherent thought.
The sensation was unbearable now.
Not because it was rough.
Because it was gentle.
Aum explored touch like something precious instead of something entitled.
Xu Chen had absolutely no defense against that.
A quiet sound escaped him again.
Aum's eyes darkened immediately in the soft bedside light.
"You continue making that sound when I touch you here."
Xu Chen laughed breathlessly.
"You absolutely know what you're doing now."
"Yes."
God.
The confidence in that single word nearly shattered him completely.
Xu Chen kissed him hard enough this time that Aum lost composure first.
The reaction was immediate.
Aum inhaled sharply against his mouth, one hand tightening at Xu Chen's waist while the other slid upward along his back with sudden unconscious need.
Xu Chen felt warmth flood through his entire body instantly.
There.
That loss of control.
That honesty.
The realization that Aum wanted him enough to stop thinking clearly too.
Xu Chen's fingers tightened in his hair while the kiss deepened, slower now but infinitely more dangerous because of how emotionally exposed both of them already were.
The room blurred softly around them.
Warm light.
Warm hands.
The mountain night pressing quietly against the windows.
Xu Chen became aware suddenly of the bed only a few steps away.
The realization changed the atmosphere immediately.
Aum noticed.
"You changed breathing pattern again."
Xu Chen closed his eyes briefly against his shoulder.
"You have to stop saying that every time."
"It is useful information."
"It is absolutely not useful information right now."
Aum's hand moved slowly along his spine once more.
Xu Chen nearly lost the ability to stand properly.
Aum noticed instantly.
His arm tightened around Xu Chen automatically.
Protective.
Instinctive.
The gesture affected Xu Chen more than the touch itself.
Because Aum held him like keeping him steady mattered naturally.
Xu Chen looked at him quietly afterward.
Something inside his chest softened completely.
"What," Aum asked softly.
Xu Chen touched his face gently.
"I think this is the safest I've ever felt with another person."
The room fell silent.
Aum became completely motionless again after hearing that.
Xu Chen saw the exact moment the words reached somewhere deep inside him.
Not pride.
Something almost reverent.
Aum's voice lowered nearly to a whisper.
"I would like to continue deserving that."
Xu Chen stopped breathing entirely for one suspended second.
Then he kissed him slowly because there simply were no surviving words left after hearing something like that.
Aum responded immediately, softer this time, one hand remaining against Xu Chen's back while the other slid carefully through his hair.
No rush.
No pressure.
Just warmth unfolding quietly between them in the middle of the night.
Xu Chen realized suddenly that whatever happened after tonight—
whatever Brihyansh meant,
whatever Earth meant,
whatever impossible future waited beyond this room—
he would remember this forever.
Not the intensity.
Not the desire.
This.
The feeling of being wanted gently.