Yao Shen feels himself swaying, his head fuzzy as if filled with cotton.

Xin Hulei's voice echoes inside his mind, reverberating like a soft echo.

Yao Shen is speaking without even noticing he's doing it, "I'm me, I'm Yao Shen."

A look of confusion steals across Xin Hulei's perfect face. "What are you?"

Yao Shen's mind feels soft and runny like rice porridge, Yao Shen's voice is like a spoon that stirs it, making him feel as if it might all leak out of his ears.

"I'm me, I'm a person," Yao Shen says, compelled to answer Xin Hulei's inane question despite his confusion.

Suddenly Xin Hulei reaches across the table, almost toppling the jar of wine. He takes hold of Yao Shen's wrist, his fingers wrapping around the thin bone firmly. "Tell me who you really are."

Yao Shen tries to blink away the blurriness clouding his vision, his lashes weight down on his eyelids. "I was your biggest fan," Yao Shen says, looking down at the place where their skin meets. "But you broke my heart."

Xin Hulei's eyes widen almost imperceptibly, and he lets go of Yao Shen's wrist.

But Yao Shen isn't done talking. "Xin Hulei, I hate you so fucking much," he says, slurring his words. "I was so happy to perform in front of you, why did you have to be so cruel?"

The part of Yao Shen that is still rational rebels against his behaviour. He doesn't want to say all these things, doesn't want to make a fool of himself in front of Xin Hulei.

Not any more than he already has.

What was in that fucking wine?

What is Xin Hulei doing to him?

He tries to get up to his feet, get away from Xin Hulei and leave this creepy restaurant, but his legs don't obey him.

The most he manages to do is drag himself up and stumble a few paces towards the stairway, almost losing his footing.

Xin Hulei materializes at his side, steadying him with a hand on his hip. "Have you ever been to the Fragrant Peony brothel in Youdu?"

Yao Shen tries to free himself from Xin Hulei's grip. What nonsense is this about brothels? He hasn't even heard of any city named Youdu.

"I'm a law abiding citizen, I would never go to a place like that," Yao Shen says, slamming his fist weakly against Xin Hulei's chest.

He is as weak as a kitten, he might as well be hitting Xin Hulei with balled up socks.

It only makes his rage surge. He looks up at Xin Hulei's sculpted face, at the eyebrows drawn over his eyes in confusion. "Your face is the only good thing about you, Xin Hulei."

Yao Shen could swear he sees the corner of Xin Hulei's lips tick up in amusement, but it might all be the result of his mental confusion.

Xin Hulei keeps shifting around his field of vision, making him dizzy. Yao Shen grips him by the front of his tank top to keep him in place.

"Everyone thinks you're so clean and pure, but you invited me here under false pretenses, and drugged me," Yao Shen says, his breath hot against Xin Hulei's neck as he struggles to speak. "What would your fans do if they knew you were this kind of demon?"

Xin Hulei goes very still, his taller frame growing rigid under Yao Shen's hands.

"What did you say?"

Yao Shen has the vague notion that he has said more than he should, but he can't get a full hold on his thoughts. Trying to focus on anything feels like trying to catch water with a sieve.

The words just rush out of him unbidden. "You're a shameless demon, Xin Hulei, taking advantage of me like this," he says, slamming his closed fists against Xin Hulei's chest again.

Xin Hulei wraps both of Yao Shen's wrists in one of his hands, restraining him against his chest. He looks down into Yao Shen's eyes, his opaque gaze cold as ice. "Sleep," he says.

The words leave his lips in an airy whisper, but slam into Yao Shen with the strength of a cyclone.

In a matter of seconds, the world around him goes dark.

---

Yao Shen wakes up in small increments, regaining awareness of his limbs one at a time.

His throat feels parched and his mouth tastes of something sweet that has long gone sour.

He finds out he's lying face-first into thousand-thread count sheets, starfishing across his hotel room's massive bed.

With a groan, he tries to prop himself up only to immediately arrive at two alarming conclusions:

1. He's sore all over, as if he spent the previous night exercising vigorously or took a tumble down a flight of stairs.

2. He's completely naked, while he usually sleeps in his underwear.

Make that three alarming conclusions, because:

3. He has no memory of how he got back to his hotel room.

In fact, he has no memory of anything beyond going to that weird restaurant's second floor with Xin Hulei.

How did he end up back here, completely naked?

He smacks his lips together, trying to figure out what the cloying taste in his mouth is.

Something fruity and floral, but not a juice, maybe a fruit wine.

Did he get drunk with Xin Hulei?

Yao Shen pulls the sheets around himself, sitting up on the bed with his knees against his chest, trying not to panic.

He has no solid recollection of the night before after Xin Hulei ordered the food for them. If he really tries to focus, he can remember some disjointed snippets, like the corner of Xin Hulei's lips ticking up in a small smile.

The jut of his sharp collarbone as Yao Shen tugs down on his tank top.

From a distance, he starts getting bits and pieces of conversation.

"Your face is the only good thing about you, Xin Hulei."

"...you broke my heart."

"Xin Hulei, taking advantage of me like this."

His heart climbs up into his throat. Did he really say those things?

Then does that mean that he, and Xin Hulei...

Yao Shen tries his best to remember everything, but the memories slip through his fingers like water.

He hears himself calling Xin Hulei, "Shameless," and then a soft and sultry voice, whispering a command into his ear, "Sleep."

Yao Shen goes hot and cold all over.

All signs point to only one conclusion: Yao Shen got drunk and had sex with Xin Hulei.

It seems impossible but that's the only thing that makes sense.

There's one way to find out for sure, as much as it pains him to even ask. "System, what did I do last night?"

[Answering Host: This system lost connection with Host after he followed the Demon King into that building, and has only recently come back online. There are no records of Host's behaviours or whereabouts for the past 9 hours.]

Yao Shen lets his head rest against his bent knees with a groan of distress.

He tries to get his breathing back under control, he can't panic right now, he's expected on set in less than an hour.

How can he have had his first time with Xin Hulei and not remember any of it?