QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

Xi Zirui grins maniacally down at his phone as he records everything Bai Mi says. Both her and Han Yu are in frame, and the camera captures her self-satisfied smirk in perfect clarity, as well as Han Yu's livid grimace.

She won't know what hit her when this is posted online.

Right now, she leans leisurely on the divan, her smirk widening as Han Yu bends over to pick up the documents.

"Why are you doing all this?" he asks, his shoulders slumped.

Her smile slips. "Why? Should you even be asking me that? You really are stupid. You should know by now how hard it is to stay relevant in this industry. Do you think I'd let everything I've worked for be taken away by some upstart?" she scoffs, running a manicured hand down her artfully curled hair. "You have to stay relevant in the public's eye, so they'll constantly demand your presence. Only that way will you be offered parts, good ones. Not the crap you're currently playing and that I've had the displeasure of doing in the past."

Han Yu runs his fingers down the edges of the folder. "This drama isn't crap, people are excited for it. I like the character I'm playing and this story. It will make people happy once it airs. I like acting because it makes people dream...it makes me dream too."

That's such a good answer. Xi Zirui could kiss him. The public is going to love hearing him say those earnest words while looking so disgusted with Bai Mi's duplicity.

"Host can be really cold-blooded," Ni Ni says suddenly, almost making Xi Zirui drop his phone.

Xi Zirui ignores her. So what if he is? Bai Mi and Su Xueyi started it.

Bai Mi is less impressed than Xi Zirui by Han Yu's heartfelt words. She laughs scornfully and narrows her eyes at him. "Not only are you stupid, but you're also a fool. Things are only worth doing for two reasons: money and power. Everything else is a waste of time."

What a fucking cartoon villain. The more she talks the more Xi Zirui hates her guts.

"This conversation is a waste of time," Han Yu says, sighing. "Fine, you'll get what you want." He drops the papers on the circular dining table facing the panoramic windows, and turns away from Bai Mi.

She gets up from the divan with a catlike stretch and coos at Han Yu on her way to the door. "Chin up darling, it's not like this is going to be terrible for you." She stops with her hand on the door handle. "Besides, I hear that your latest boytoy has had enough of you already, so it's not like you'll be missing out on that front."

She throws one last dazzling smile over her shoulder, and says, "Admit it, Han Yu, the two of us deserve each other," and then she's gone, leaving only the scent of her expensive perfume behind.

Xi Zirui waits until enough time has passed to come out of his hiding place. He finds Han Yu still looking out the windows forlornly, arms crossed in front of his chest.

He hugs him from behind, resting his head against his sharp shoulderblade. "I got everything, we have her now. Don't worry, gege."

Han Yu lowers his hands until they're resting over Xi Zirui's and links their fingers. "I'm not worried," he shakes his head an inhales shakily. "Just thinking...am I really like her?"

Ni Ni chimes. "He wanted to enter into a fake relationship with Host for publicity, so he clearly isn't that different."

Xi Zirui doesn't understand what Ni Ni has against Han Yu, but whatever, the only thing that matters is that Xi Zirui likes him.

Besides, Han Yu is a changed man now. His desire to tap Xi Zirui's ass turned him into a better person.

He hugs himself closer to Han Yu's back, and says, "Was what you told her about how this drama isn't stupid true?"

Han Yu kicks the wooden floor with the heel of his socked feet a few times before answering. "I probably sounded really dumb, uh? But yeah, I was saying the truth, I like filming this drama, as silly and over-the-top as it is."

He is blushing a little when he turns around to hug Xi Zirui to his chest, and Xi Zirui bites down on the urge to coo at him. Too cute, Han Yu really is sweet, embarrassed because he doesn't want to look uncool in front of Xi Zirui.

It makes Xi Zirui want to bully him mercilessly.

He raises himself on his tiptoes and drops a kiss against Han Yu's steaming neck. "Then gege definitely isn't like her. I think gege is really good..." He can feel Han Yu's pulse quicken under his lips, it makes his smirk widen. "Does gege want to show didi how good he can be?"

Han Yu looks as if his brain has gone momentarily offline, which is always a great look on him. Xi Zirui takes advantage of his daze to pull him by the hand towards the sofa. He lets his back hit the cushions and pulls Han Yu on top of him, spreading his legs around his hips.

Clinging to his neck, Xi Zirui whispers, "Gege once told me that he would make me scream his name," he rolls his hips upwards in a deliberate tease, "was that all talk? Isn't gege going to make good on his promise?"

Han Yu's eyes flash, he grips Xi Zirui's wrists in one hand and pins them above his head on the cushions. "Didi is playing with fire. If he keeps teasing me, I'll take it as invitation to go ahead and wreck him."

Good! Please do!

Xi Zirui squirms in place and bites his lower lip, gazing up at Han Yu from beneath the seductive fan of his long lashes. "Do your worst."

Han Yu groans, his voice laden with lust, and falls on Xi Zirui like a storm. He brackets his body from all sides, rucks up his t-shirt with feverish fingers and takes one hard nipple between his lips, worrying at the sensitive flesh with his teeth.

Xi Zirui hisses at the sharpness and the zing of pleasure that travels down his spine. He arches his spine into the contact, silently inviting Han Yu to take more, to take all of him.

His mind is clouded with lust, his blood running thick and heavy with it, but he still has enough presence of mind to ask, "Where is the lube? You better have lube."

Han Yu releases Xi Zirui's abused nipple with a loud pop, which doesn't bode well for Xi Zirui's chances of getting railed right this instant. "Uh...I don't have any."

Xi Zirui bumps his head against the cushions with a groan and pulls up Han Yu by the loose collar of his shirt. "All that talk about wanting to fuck me, and you didn't even plan for it?"

Han Yu whimpers pitifully, rubbing himself against Xi Zirui's thigh. "I'm sorry, didi. I didn't have time to get it."

Inappropriate as always, Ni Ni has something to say. "I can tell Host is determined to ruin his chances of getting a happy ending."

Xi Zirui just grits his teeth in reply.

"If that's the case, Host should know there is lubricant in the side-table of his hotel room. An half-filled bottle the original Xi Zirui liked to make use of," she says, sounding flustered if such a thing is possible.

Xi Zirui doesn't know what prompted this change of heart, but he's not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He shimmies out from under Han Yu and hauls him up to his unsteady feet using the grip he still has on his collar.

"Change of plans, let's go to my room, I just remembered I have a bottle of lube there."

Han Yu follows after him with eyes glazed, head empty, and dick hard.

---

As soon as they make it through the door, Han Yu pushes Xi Zirui against it and starts to mouth at his neck, hungry and desperate.

Xi Zirui laughs into all his ravenous kisses, thrilled by the needy sounds Han Yu muffles against his skin.

"Gege is so desperate, he can't even wait until we make it to the bed," Xi Zirui says, scoring his blunt nails up into Han Yu's hair.

Han Yu shakes his head, and continues to lave his trail of fiery kisses all the way up to Xi Zirui's lips. "I'm gonna do didi right here, standing on the doorway, and ruin him for anyone else."

Xi Zirui is about to tell him how good that sounds to him, when there's a knock at his back.

Someone is knocking at the door, of all possible opportunities, someone is knocking at his door now.

He clamps one hand over Han Yu's mouth, who looks so out of it that it's possible he hasn't heard anything, and holds up his index finger in front of his own pursed lips.

There's silence from the other side of the door, and for a short, blissful, moment Xi Zirui thinks whoever it was might have gone away.

That is until a familiar voice says, "Xi Zirui, are you there? I want to talk with you about what we discussed in your trailer."

Xi Zirui curses under his breath and slides off the door as silently as he can. Still clamping Han Yu's mouth shut, he pushes him towards the bedroom.

"Hide," he whispers, motioning Han Yu to the walk-in closet much like the one in his own room.

He can see Han Yu's knit eyebrows, and he's sure he's frowning beneath his fingers, but he needs to put out this fire before he can handle Han Yu's bruised ego.

Xi Zirui hopes his smile doesn't look too menacing when he opens the door to Su Xueyi. "Hi there," he says, instead of what he really wants to, which is to call him 'cockblocker'.

Su Xueyi rubs the back of his neck self-consciously, a move designed to show the definition of his bicep, and makes his way past Xi Zirui and into the room.

He at least has the decency of taking his shoes off by the door. A point for him, compared with Bai Mi

"I know you're upset with Han Yu about what he did, but I don't think my suggestion is such a good idea, it could put you in trouble."

Xi Zirui nods, all the while thinking that Bai Mi and Su Xueyi must be really coordinated, for her to have called him so soon after leaving Han Yu's room.

Now that she thinks that Han Yu has agreed to her demands, the plan B of having Xi Zirui expose him as a terrible person so she could look even more saintly in comparison is no longer necessary.

And Su Xueyi is here to guarantee that Bai Mi's new husband's image isn't damaged by his scorned ex-lover.

Cute.

He wonders what Su Xueyi gets out of this whole thing.

"I'm still so hurt by what he did," Xi Zirui sighs, and walks towards the bedroom to sit on the edge of the bed, in full view of Han Yu inside the closet. "I wish there was a way to get back to him."

As he expects, Su Xueyi swallows the bait. He bridges the distance between them in long strides, and by the time he approaches Xi Zirui on the bed his chest is heaving with the rhythm of his labored breathing.

"There is," he says, stippling the tips of his fingers over Xi Zirui's bent knee. "I can help you if you want."

Xi Zirui entertains a few ideas of what that helping might entail. It's time for him to put Su Xueyi in his place, once and for all.

He blinks up at Su Xueyi, and asks "What did you have in mind?" eyes wide and innocent, pure as the driven snow.