5. Chapter 5

Ben has completely lost track of Xiaoman and also himself. Luo Fei is draped over him like a fox stole, warm and sensuous, the silk of his cheongsam shifting suggestively under Ben’s fingers as they dance. Ben’s life has dialed down to a finite point between mortification and desire and he has no exit plan.

“Aren’t you a pair! May I?” Andy appears next to them, none-to-gently peeling Luo Fei off of Ben, who grabs the opportunity with both fists.

“Please, be my guest,” he says politely, doing his damnedest to off-load Luo Fei into Andy’s arms. He’s a little surprised, as the men he usually sees Andy hanging off of are masculine and often, like Ben himself, tall. But he’s not going to question it right now.

Luo Fei is glowering and Ben is making to step away when suddenly he’s got an armful of...Andy?

“You dance so rarely,” Andy coos, looking up at him from under long, dark lashes and wrapping his arms around Ben’s neck. He’s...he’s pouting. Ben has no idea what is happening.

“Hey!” Luo Fei is standing next to them with a shocked expression. It’s what he deserves for pushing the matter, Ben thinks sourly.

Andy cuts his eyes over toward Luo Fei. “We’re dancing, do you mind?” He moves one arm to rest around Ben’s waist, and his hand starts stroking his lower back. Ben notices in his peripheral vision that other dancers are moving away from them, sensing that a conflict is imminent. He’s shuffling to the music because he’s not sure how to run screaming out of the place without causing a scene, although apparently Luo Fei has no such reservations as he starts slapping Andy’s hand.

“Stop that! Stop touching!”

Andy smacks Luo Fei’s offending hand in vicious retaliation. “Go away!”

Luo Fei pulls back, his expression one of utter shock. “Ben!”

Ben shakes his head because he’s at a complete loss. He’s been coming to this club for years, and never once has Andy given him more than a passing, if approving, glance. He’s startled when Andy’s hand rests against his cheek and turns his head towards him.

“Ignore the barbarian. He doesn’t deserve you,” he says softly, then reaches up and kisses him. On the lips. Passionately.

Ben...Ben is only human, and he’s a full-blooded man, and Andy is beautiful, and it has been a very long time since he’s been kissed like this. It’s instinctive to wrap his arms around Andy and pull him close, to kiss him thoroughly with all the frustration that has been focused on Luo Fei for fucking years now.

And then all hell breaks loose.

There is a screeching noise as Andy is ripped from his arms and slapped fully across the face by an enraged Luo Fei. People are yelling and scrambling to get away from them, knocking over chairs, but all he can truly focus on is Luo Fei standing in front of him.

“You keep your dirty paws off of him!” One red-clawed finger wags in front of Andy’s face.

Andy, who doesn’t look as angry as he should in Ben’s opinion, steps up to Luo Fei and starts pushing him aside. “You don’t want him anyway, darling.”

“Who are you to tell me who I want?” Luo Fei yells, shoving Andy backwards again. “He’s mine! He’s mine and he’s always been mine!”

Ben’s first thought is that the histrionics are unnecessary. His second thought, drawn out on a spindle of disbelief, is that Luo Fei is entirely, 100% in earnest. Ben has known him long enough to recognize the tells of Luo Fei playing a game and jousting with words, but the flip side is that he knows with bone-deep certainty when Luo Fei is being honest.

Ben has been fully, painfully aware for a long time that he belongs to Luo Fei, but it never seriously crossed his mind that the object of his love felt the same, in the same way. Ben is both a scientist and a cop, though, and he knows how to put clues together when they mount up like this.

“Luo Fei,” he says, quietly and breathlessly, reaching out to him.

Luo Fei turns on him. “Yes! Yes! How did you not know?”

“Enough!” Out of nowhere, Xiaoman saunters onto the dance floor, hands in her pants pockets and her eyes flinting steel. Club goers and bouncers part for her like she’s a hot knife through butter. Ben’s heart catches in his throat at the sight.