Chapter 25
Yael stood up, giving his seat to 015, straightened the shower gel that had accidentally spilled, and turned on the bathroom drying machine.
"Where should we put him?"
015's voice came from outside the door, and Yael was still a little slow to react.
He turned around and saw 015 holding the female insect standing in the middle of the room. They both turned their heads to look at him. The scene was inexplicably harmonious.
"Then..." Yael was a little stuck and blurted out, "Let's go to bed."
etc.
He reacted quickly, slapped his forehead in frustration, and closed his eyes.
Did you soak in the bathroom for so long that your brain got soaked? Why did you say you were going to bed?!
For Yel, the bed is a very private place.
He slept in a separate room from adults when he was very young. From childhood to adulthood, no one has ever been allowed to move his bed, let alone allow anyone to rest or even sleep on it.
It is too late to lay down the waterproof sheet at this time, and if it is laid down in front of the female insect, it will definitely make the female insect think that she is being rejected, which will make it even more difficult to deal with.
Yael walked out with some hesitation and saw the female insect sitting carefully on the bed, bending over to wipe her hair without dropping any water on the sheets.
"Hero Lord."
Hearing the footsteps, Xi Ze tilted his head with a bath towel on his head, looked in the direction of the male insect, and the corners of his lips almost couldn't help but rise, and whispered, "Tonight..."
Yael hummed absentmindedly, stretched out his hand and rubbed the female insect's messy hair, "Did you dry it? Be careful not to catch a cold."
He was still thinking about the bed.
Shouldn't... He was quite sensitive to the word "bed", so the strange coincidence just now was basically impossible to happen, but he did give his permission.
Are they in a bed-sharing relationship?
Yael faced this problem for the first time, frowned and fell into deep thought.
It's true that they have done some strange things, but each time they were rushed to the shelves out of necessity, and it can't be said to be a natural emotional push.
Xi Ze probably didn't want to do this either, but he was conditioned by society to do this.
Apart from the relationship of master and slave that was established by accident, they should be considered... friends, right?
Or to go a step further, is it a special relationship where some things have happened together - good friends?
Yael pondered for a moment and felt that this definition was quite appropriate.
He hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "If you feel better, you can..." Go out and continue to sleep.
“…”
But the soft, slightly damp hair was entangled between her fingers. The female insect pursed her lips and obediently placed her hair against his palm, allowing his fingers to rub and knead it randomly, like a puppy with its fur standing on end.
Especially those golden eyes that were raised upwards, trying to look in his direction, with the moist corners of the eyes drooping slightly... making him look more like a puppy.
Yael's breath was choked, and the rest of the words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say them out.
After struggling for a while, he sighed in compromise.
...The weather outside is so bad that it is really uncomfortable to sleep on the sofa, so I will make an exception this time.
"Let 015 help you change your clothes and get ready to rest."
Remembering that the tools outside were still scattered and not picked up, Yael walked into the living room, but was caught off guard by the cold wind and shivered.
The balcony door was somehow pushed open a crack, and a strong wind mixed with ice and snow blew up the curtains, revealing a corner of the dark and gloomy night outside.
The storm was raging and showed no sign of letting up.
He walked over and closed the door, but for some reason his heart suddenly trembled and a vague sense of uneasiness spread.
"Is there anything outside?"
015's voice suddenly rang out, startling Yael.
He pulled the curtains tight without leaving any gaps, then turned around and said, "Nothing, is it done?"
"Yes, I'll clean up the mess on the floor, you just go and have some rest."
"Okay, remember not to sleep tonight and pay more attention to your surroundings to prevent anything from happening again."
…
Yael closed the door behind him.
Xi Ze had already changed into clean clothes and was half lying on the edge of the bed with a quilt covering him. When he heard the noise, he opened his eyes and looked over here.
His body had soft, undulating contours, appearing strong and thick, emitting scalding heat and the scent of shower gel, like a nest or hotbed into which one could crawl and bury oneself and do whatever one wanted.
The current atmosphere... is really too strange.
Yael took a deep breath, forced himself to look away, took out a new set of pajamas from the closet and walked towards the bathroom.
"I need to take another shower, you can go to bed first and don't have to wait for me."
"Okay." Xi Ze whispered, sliding down into the quilt.
Half an hour later, Yael came out. The female insect was lying on the bed with her back to him. The undulating contours of her body were covered by the soft quilt, and her breathing was steady and long.
He breathed a sigh of relief, walked over lightly and turned off the light.
“Pah.”
The room finally fell into silence and darkness, with only the monotonous sounds of the howling north wind and the rustling of snow outside the window.
Yael stepped carefully onto the bed, stepped over the female insect's waist, gently lifted the quilt and lay down.
It should have been cold inside the quilt, but the female insect's body temperature was slightly higher, and it was transmitted through the quilt, giving him a soothing warmth.
The breathing of another creature was clearly audible, even louder than the sound of the wind and snow outside, and it lingered in my ears.
...too close.
He stared at the blurry patterns on the curtains, forced himself to close his eyes, and tried to ignore the existence behind him.
Even counted sheep and tried to sleep, but-
Can't sleep at all!
A few short yet long minutes passed, and just when Yael was about to get up and take some sleeping pills, he suddenly heard a rustling sound behind him.
He thought the female insect had turned over, but the next second, a warm breeze blew across his back, and the quilt with her scalding body temperature suddenly wrapped around him.
Yael's breathing frequency was not disordered at all, and he adjusted the quilt behind him slowly and carefully. The warmth in the quilt gradually melted the coldness on his fingertips.
Compared to the cold outside the bed, the idea of getting out of bed to take medicine became increasingly difficult.
…Forget it, let’s just sleep like this.
With the help of the warmth, a slight sleepiness finally visited him.
The scalding heat source was not far behind me, and I could vaguely feel the hot breath on the back of my neck, but the distance still allowed air to leak through the quilt, and I couldn't bury my entire body in the warmth.
Yael frowned a little uncomfortably and shrank into the quilt.
“…”
The male insect's breathing became long and slow, and it seemed to have fallen asleep, but Cize was still unusually awake.
He actually deceived the male insect. Rebuilding the mental picture is not such a simple and quick thing.
At least after the most turbulent and dangerous period, those disturbed memories and emotions did not recede, but became even more chaotic and intense.
Distorted and deformed faces of unknown origin flashed by, sharp tinnitus almost pierced the temple, senses were reversed and confused, waves of tearing pain came from all parts of the body, but it was impossible to tell whether it was an illusion or reality.
He held back his breathing, swallowed every possible sound, and carefully turned over with his back to Yael, not wanting to wake the male insect.
But suddenly, a hand reached out from the side, and the slightly cool palm touched his forehead, as if testing whether the temperature was right.
The male insect's voice sounded, vague and a little worried, "What's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"
Xi Ze's Adam's apple rolled, he reached out and touched the hand on his forehead, and shook it vigorously, "...It's nothing, I just have a little insomnia."
"I'll get you some medicine."
Yael withdrew his hand and was about to lift the quilt and get out of bed, but was stopped by the female insect's hoarse voice.
"I don't want to take medicine...why don't we just talk and then we'll naturally feel sleepy."
This seemed like a good idea. Yael pondered for a moment and huddled back into the quilt. "What do you want to say?"
Caesar endured the stinging pain and pretended to be thinking sleepily, "Let me think about it..."
He wanted to say something, but after careful consideration, he realized that his previous life was so boring. There was only war and occasional boring power struggles. Speaking out would only add to his boredom.
After thinking for a long time, he picked out something that was not too complicated or disgusting and told it to the male insect as a bedtime story.
"On one of our return trips, we found that the transfer point was broken, so we had to drive back slowly, but we also got to see a lot of beautiful scenery."
"One of the nebulae glowed with a bright rose red color and was shaped like a heart, rhythmically beating and contracting as if it had life."
"I had no memory of seeing this kind of nebula, so I just opened the recorder and recorded it. After returning, the recorder was handed over to a special place for inspection and review."
"But what I didn't expect was that this insignificant episode would cause such a sensation."
Xi Ze laughed softly, still vaguely remembering the astronomers' incredulous looks.
Their faces turned red as monkeys' bottoms, and they shouted, "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible! Someone must have done this!"
"They always claim that there are no secrets in the universe and that there will be no new discoveries in the next hundred years. However, this claim was broken by a casual record made during a normal return trip only a year later. It's quite... funny, isn't it?"
If you lose your sense of awe and let arrogance block your eyes, you will naturally be unable to see new things and can only stay where you are.
Yael listened to his story with bated breath and chuckled a few times. "What happened later? Is the nebula still wild now?"
"Later it was named 'Heart of the Valar', meaning the heart of the gods."
The female insect's tone was low and soft, with a hint of a smile that he himself didn't even notice.
The sharp pain in my brain, like needles stabbing at my head, gradually eased, as if after telling the story, the originally chaotic memories were sorted out, and the manic mental power in my mental picture was gradually calmed down.
After thinking about it, Yael coughed softly.
"As a return gift, let me say something as well. If there is anything that does not conform to common sense, just ignore it. It is not a big deal."
“好像也沒什麽特別有趣的……我之前跟你說過，我養了一條小狗對吧？”
“那是在街上撿的流浪狗，具體過程就不說了，總之我給它起名叫湯圓。養了快一年，有一次我放學回家，看到門居然開着，而湯圓完全不見蹤影。”
“後面着急地找了很久，終于在三天後在原來撿到它的垃圾桶旁邊找到了，餓得可憐兮兮的，一見到我就撲上來……”
想起當時的情景，耶爾還是又生氣又想笑。
西澤笑了一下，追問道，“怎麽會突然跑出去的？”
“是當時對面的住戶做了紅燒肉，香味把湯圓饞到了，就想讨一塊來吃，但它方向感極差，兜兜轉轉一大圈後徹底迷路，流浪期間還差點被抓去又絕一次育。”
但埋怨過後，耶爾又忍不住怔怔出神，半晌才低聲道。
“它現在已經被朋友收養了，不知道還有沒有原來那麽貪吃，幸好……”
他想說幸好将它轉交給朋友了，不然他猝死後湯圓肯定又會變成流浪狗，只能可憐兮兮地翻垃圾桶找東西吃。
但濃烈的思念驀地上湧，讓他眼眶微熱，些許酸澀漫上鼻尖。
察覺到雄蟲情緒低落，西澤摸索着撫上他肩膀的位置，隔着被子拍了拍，有些笨拙地哄道，“以後有機會可以随時去看它，不然把它接回來養？”
“沒事，這樣也挺好的。”
耶爾眨了眨眼，把情緒壓下去，又突然道，“話說之後你打算怎麽辦？”
他們心照不宣這個之後是指什麽，但之前一直有意無意地避開不談，趁現在聊一聊也沒有什麽。
西澤靜了一瞬。
“确實有些事要做……”
無數考量和斟酌在嘴邊轉了一圈，最終他垂下眸，狀似無意地道，“或者可以先去會會把我害得這麽慘的罪魁禍首？”
“那你可要快點好起來。”
耶爾語調自然得像在問今天晚飯吃什麽，“然後把那些家夥都殺了。”
“……”
西澤可能被他的兇殘言論震到，默默無言好一會，才有些難以置信地道，“我以為您會讓我忍耐或原諒，畢竟……”
雄蟲是多麽平靜溫柔的蟲，仿佛能理解和包容一切狼狽和苦難，不會願意見到争鬥和血腥的場面。
“你對我有什麽誤解？”
耶爾蹙眉，“以牙還牙，以眼還眼。你以為我是什麽聖父嗎？”
将刀鋒回擊傷害，用溫柔回饋愛意，這才是他的行事準則。
西澤幾乎嘆息地道，“您說得對。”
沉默半晌，他又低聲道，“好，把他們都殺了，然後把雄主接去主星生活好不好？”
似乎有什麽奇怪的東西蔓延過來了。
耶爾直接毫不猶豫地拒絕，“不要，你殺你的，那是你的自由，我就待在這裏，哪也不去。”
他說得斬釘截鐵，沒有給雌蟲繼續試探的機會。
後面他們都不再說話，被喚醒的夜色再度沉沉地、溫馨地沉澱下來。
耶爾翻了個身，将臉埋進被子裏，中斷了這次莫名而起又莫名而止的夜間閑談。
“好了，已經很晚了，休息吧。”
半小時後。
耶爾掀開被子，揉了揉淩亂的頭發，看着旁邊同樣沒睡的雌蟲，一臉無言。
“這麽幹耗着不是辦法，還是去拿點藥吃吧。”
他起身按亮燈，掀開被子下了床，拉開床頭的抽屜。
不大的空間被各種藥劑塞滿，耶爾蹲在那裏停了一分鐘，才終于做好心理準備後，從裏面把安眠藥拿出來。
他的睡眠一直不大好，是因為小時候睡着睡着就會被抓起來揍一頓，精神逐漸敏感和緊繃，突然有一天就發現再也睡不着了。
擺脫了那種高壓環境後，安穩的睡眠也依舊沒有回來，每次吃安眠藥前都會哄着自己做心理準備，這麽十幾年過去倒也習慣了。
他又起身接了兩杯熱水，将其中一份藥和水遞給雌蟲。
“都已經快天亮了，還好幸好還在周末，不用上班。”
想起什麽，耶爾蹙起眉，“不過明天下午預約了一家新的醫院，要保持充足的睡眠才行。”
“能不能……”将藥吞下，西澤神情猶豫，抿了抿唇還是吞下了後半句話。
“什麽？”正要上床的耶爾擡眼看他，“你說。”
西澤蹭了蹭鼻尖，似乎覺得這個要求很不合理，有些不自然地低聲道，“能不能，抱一下？”
空氣陡然安靜下來，仿佛時間都凝滞了，他不自覺地放輕了呼吸。
擂鼓般的心跳打亂了他對時間的判斷，可能已經有好幾分鐘，也可能僅僅只過去了幾秒。
“不行就……”
“好啊。”
耶爾思索了一下，爽快答應。
雖然不知道雌蟲為什麽提出這個請求，但經歷了劇烈的痛苦之後，或許确實需要一個擁抱，才能安心睡着。
那雙金眸先是低垂着，聽到他答應後又倏地亮起，像是期待着撫摸的狗勾。
明明是雪豹一樣兇悍冷硬類型的野獸，卻不知何時收斂起了強烈的攻擊性，等耶爾回過神的時候，就只剩默不作聲的馴服和溫順。
他伸手插入雌蟲蓬松的白發，有一下沒一下地輕撫，指腹偶爾擦過柔軟眼尾，留下一道淺粉的痕跡。
恐怕連西澤自己都不知道，每次被這樣弄的時候，他臉上就會出現一種恐懼和渴望并存的微妙神色，不怎麽明顯，但耶爾就是能明白。
雌蟲靠近耳朵的地方擦破了一道淺淺的血痕，剛才都沒發現，耶爾的指腹用力按壓了一下，“疼嗎？”
西澤茫然地看他一眼，無知無覺地往他手心蹭了蹭，像被撫摸舒服的獵豹一樣發出含糊的低哼。
耶爾輕笑一聲，視線卻不由自主移到雌蟲頸間，那裏有着一個冰冷的金屬環，将脆弱又敏感的咽喉死死卡住。
這東西……
那次争吵過後，他們再沒有提起過這個話題，但雌蟲不可能已經不在意，就算收斂了鋒芒，他也不可能甘願自斷脊骨，俯身做什麽狗屁雌奴。
到底要怎麽弄掉這個東西？耶爾眉心緊蹙，但只略略出神了一會。
當務之急還是先将雌蟲安撫下來。
他眨了眨眼，神情有些無措，張開手臂換了幾個姿勢，感覺都不太對，“嗯……要怎麽抱？”
耶爾感覺自己好像老鷹捉小雞游戲裏的雞媽媽，而眼前可不是什麽小雞仔，而是能幾口吞下他的壯碩雄鷹。
他十分成功地将自己逗笑了。
但一只骨節分明的手握住了他的手腕，接着一股大力傳來——
耶爾猝不及防往前一撲，膝蓋卡進雌蟲打開的下身，臉則陷入一片軟乎乎的奶油裏。
他下意識深吸了口氣，瞬間被熟悉而香甜的淺淡氣息填滿。
好……好彈，好軟。
腰被兩條有力的手臂摟住，滾燙暖意從身前傳來，雌蟲抱得太緊，以至于他被完全禁锢在這個懷抱中，無法掙脫。
耶爾緩慢地眨了眨眼，感覺到西澤将臉埋在了他頸側，近乎嘆息般深深吸了口氣。
懷裏的身軀并不顯得纖弱，而是柔韌而勁瘦，像是那盆鮮活而頑強的紅玉藤，輕輕一折就能流淌出生命的汁漿。
但西澤一再松懈了力道，舍不得将他弄疼。
“……”
柔軟的銀發蹭在臉側，來自另一個鮮活生命的熱度，便透過薄薄的紗布和毛衣灼燙在血肉上，覆滿冰雪的荒原開始了一場悄無聲息的雪融。
感覺到這個擁抱的認真和鄭重，耶爾猶豫片刻，伸手撫上雌蟲的肩背。
指腹觸及的睡衣布料柔軟輕薄，下面的肌膚被紗布分割得七零八落，卻遮不住軟厚漂亮的肌肉輪廓，還有清晰微突的脊骨線條。
摩挲着那裏一節節往下，就到了淺淺的腰窩，剛好可以将虎口卡在上面，然後順理成章地掐住那段勁瘦的腰。
真的和人類一模一樣。
耶爾突然想。
他的視線下意識移向雌蟲背部，從松開的領口處可以隐約看見蟲紋瑰麗的紋路。
而更深處，就是蝴蝶骨內側負責藏匿翅膀的柔軟翅囊。
耶爾伸手摸了摸那裏，翅囊的觸感很奇特，很薄很軟的一層，很脆弱也很敏感。
西澤幾乎渾身一顫，卻沒有躲避的動作，任由耶爾的指尖在那裏來回輕撫，甚至掃過細小神經密集的縫隙口。
雌蟲被連根拔去了骨翼，所以裏面什麽也沒有，不會突然展開骨翼飛起來，如果不受到刺激的話，也不會半蟲化把他吓到。
這個殘酷的事實居然讓他感到了一絲前所未有的釋然，身體裏一根始終緊繃的弦悄然放松。
耶爾閉上眼睛，張開雙手，完全地回抱了雌蟲。
……
睡前擁抱果然是玄學但好用的方法，又或者是安眠藥已經起效，等耶爾再次躺進被子裏時，已經困倦到睜不開眼睛了。
窗外的風暴似乎也逐漸停息，不再噼裏啪啦地敲擊玻璃，全然的黑暗和溫暖中，黏稠睡意翻湧而起，溫柔的潮水般緩慢沒過頭頂。
耶爾的呼吸逐漸綿長。
Half asleep and half awake, I seemed to hear a soft and hoarse voice coming from above my head.
"I haven't figured out how to confess those things yet...Give me some time, okay?"
His dream was disturbed, he frowned, and unconsciously turned around to fill the gap.
His arms were suddenly filled, and Xi Zehun's body stiffened. After a long while, he carefully reached out and pulled the quilt up.
Yael sighed in relief.
This posture made him completely enveloped in warmth. The breath that originally swept across the back of his neck rested against his ear, matching the low heartbeat in front of him, creating an intimacy that had already reached the edge.
The tip of my nose was lingering with the faint smell of blood from Xi Ze's body, along with a barely perceptible sweetness, which blended with the cold breath of wind and snow, and smelled unexpectedly good.
He snorted softly and buried his face, which was a little cold because it was exposed, and completely sank into the softness of the fluffy hair.
The hot ironing temperature was very soothing, but there seemed to be something stiff there, and he couldn't help rubbing it with his head, mumbling something vaguely.
The author has something to say:
Yeah Yeah: Make you guys red bean pastejpg.
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