11. Tiny Epilogue

She rolls over and hits a wall.

Blinking awake, she realizes that the wall is warm, and soft, and staring at her.

“Good morning. Or should I say, good afternoon?” Ben whispers.

Behind her, Luo Fei drags her closer, spooning up against her back, but still asleep if his steady breaths against the back of her neck are any indication.

Ben lifts a hand and delicately traces the lines of her face: cheekbones, nose, forehead. It’s a quiet moment between the two of them, despite Luo Fei curled around her, and she wallows in being Ben’s center of attention because she is greedy and that is something she accepts about herself now. She smiles when his delicate fingers drift over her lips.

As her brain comes back online she registers more details: Ben is next to her. He had been behind Luo Fei when they stumbled to bed earlier. He is also is dressed, and laying on top of the bed covers.

“What?” She tugs at his sleeve.

“Work. You both interrupted my morning. I was just getting ready to leave when you stumbled home.” He gives her that adorable lopsided smile that says he’s not upset at all about it.

“Ah.” She nods, then nuzzles into the palm of his hand. She sighs. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Allowing me to want you, too.” Her voice is hoarse with sleep and worry.

He leans in even closer and rubs their noses together. It settles her, and he smiles in return. “Don’t ever think you are here just for Luo Fei’s sake, Sweet Cream.”

Her face hurts, she smiles so wide at the nickname. He bops her on the nose and rolls off of the bed before quietly stepping out of the bedroom. She snuggles backwards into Luo Fei, who grunts and bats at her hand in his sleep, and enjoys drifting away again in her soreness and satisfaction.

When she wakes up for the second time, it’s to the drifting patterns of dusk filtering over the walls. She lifts her head to see Luo Fei looking back.

“Good morning?” She rubs her face.

Lou Fei kisses her, almost chastely, before looking around the room and noticing who is missing. “Where is Ben?”

“We took up part of his day. He went in to work, will probably stay there most of the night to catch up.” She yawns and stretches out.

“Oh.” Luo Fei falls onto his back and stares at the ceiling, his hands clasped together on his stomach.

She mirrors his pose and they lay there, staring at the ceiling together in comfortable silence. Eventually she reaches out and shoves her arm under his neck, then pulls. He follows willingly, obediently, until he’s spread out half on top of her. She tucks his head to her shoulder and hums happily. “Where you belong.”

“Hm. When Ben isn’t here.”

She feels like it’s another test, but she’s not worried about that anymore. Luo Fei will keep poking at things, of course he will. “Of course.”

“He hides it well but he’s very clingy.” Luo Fei murmurs without any trace of irony into her breast, his hot breath bringing a spike of arousal to her blood.

“Yes, I remember. I think he reverts to his natural state of being an octopus in his sleep.”

Luo Fei laughs, and it is such a bright, carefree sound that she can’t stop herself from grabbing a fistful of his hair, tipping his head back, and kissing him. Then she sets his head back down.

He responds by caressing her other breast. “He understands.”

She frowns, unsure of what he means. “Does he?”

“He accepts my passion for you. He filters his own passions through that. Don’t expect him to, ah, do anything pleasurable with you independent of that, however true his affections for you are.” He rolls a little closer and takes her nipple into his mouth, sucking lightly.

They each have their own lenses, but to her, the view is the same. “He loves me, and I love him. We both love you. That’s enough.”

“ Enough , eh?” He asks before suckling at her again, his other hand drifting lower. Then he freezes. “Love? Ahhh—”

“Shhhh.” She puts a finger over his precious lips, then spreads her legs and pushes him to settle there, his hips cradled by her thighs. His cock is already hard and strong and pressing against her.

He makes little gasping noises and she shushes him again. Thinking back to earlier in the morning, the way Luo Fei and Ben looked twined together in sleep, she grins and whispers in his ear. “Tell me how you will pleasure him when I’m not around to watch.”

“You are so filthy,” Luo Fei complains, but then does what he’s told.