As part of his character, Zao Xing loved Ye Delun. Ye Delun didn't know why, nor did he know when it started. It was just that Zao Xing loved Ye Delun. Ye Delun assumed it was because of personal reasons. A mental hole that Ye Delun, Zao Xing's master, was able to fill in for. Ye Delun unwillingly served as a pillar for a collapsing roof. That's how he thought of it.
It wasn't that Ye Delun minded the affection. He loved getting affection, no matter who it was from. It was just he never knows how to respond. There was a girl who liked him back in middle school. She was popular amongst the school for having a different boy to obsess over every semester. Ye Delun was one of those boys at some point.
The girl gave him chocolate and a love letter. She bowed down a perfect 90 degrees to hand it to him. And Ye Delun, the densest kid in the grade, asked if the letter was something the office wanted him to deliver to his mother.
Yes, it was a funny sight and a memory that was brought up later on for the laughs but at the moment, no one was as embarrassed as that girl. She'd been rejected several times, it was no big deal. She had always thought that there was plenty of other boys her type, pretty boys to be more specific, and could find another one. It was just that she couldn't comprehend Ye Delun's words out of her embarrassed state and took them as an insult. Ye Delun came home with a bruise on his cheek and a bag of chocolate. He had lost the letter to the girl, he never even got to open it.
It wasn't until his mother explained it to him that night that he realized that the girl was confessing her feelings for him. The next day he apologized sincerely, the other girl did too. She said that it was alright and that she didn't like him anymore. Because she ended up falling for a boy on the soccer team after he had caught her crying behind the school. "It was just like in the stories!" She had said.
The two of them ended up getting close, Ye Delun wouldn't have expected that same girl from middle school to end up being his best friend throughout high school and college. And also happened to be the same girl who recommended him this game to play. So all in all, she was an 'A' in his book.
But Zao Xing is a special case. A capture target that a normal Player wouldn't have ever been able to acquire. That thought made him feel special. He liked that feeling. The butterflies in his chest and the tingling their wings would leave on his heart. It made him happy. It was different from when he was confessed to. This time, the attention felt real, he liked it very much.
Zao Xing was very attentive. After washing Ye Delun's hands he made him change his clothes. Take a shower. Then stay huddled in bedsheets while Zao Xing went to give him a whole new set of clothing. Along with another pair of shoes, because as Zao Xing had told him, "They're tainted. The only thing left for them is to be burned."
Ye Delun didn't care that much. They weren't his shoes anyways. Instead, he nuzzled into the fluffy comforters and waited patiently for Zao Xing to come back with some clothes. Which didn't take long at all, as Zao Xing entered through another mysteriously materialized door.
"Sorry I made you wait." He told him. He sat next to the pile of blankets and set down the folded clothing. "You weren't cold, were you?"
Ye Delun opened his resting eyes and peaked towards the man. "Nah, the blankets are comfy and warm." As long as he was surrounded by the fluffy comforters, he didn't care that he was only in his boxers.
Zao Xing watched the other man lift and adjust his chin to stop it from being buried along with the rest of his body. His hair still being damp from his shower with the towel set on top. He tried his best to adjust his head so that he could both see and not have the towel fall. To Zao Xing, the sight was almost too much to handle. His exposed ears turned red and the mask covering his face almost burned from the gathered heat from his face.
Seeing Ye Delun in himself was already a treasured rarity to him, but also being able to see things that only he could see. A sight that he could call his own. It was more cherished than his own life.
[+50]
[The favorability has already hit the max on this character, it can not go further!]
At the sound of the familiar notification, Ye Delun gave Zao Xing a curious look. The grown man was smiling like a child at a new toy. Except it was like he was a mature child. One with limits and patience, with his lips closed. He wondered what would happen if Zao Xing took the mask off. He wanted to know if the smile fit his eyes. If he took it off would the emotions in his eyes flood out? Would it be too strong for him to handle?
"You..." Zao Xing softly mumbled softly. It barely passed his upturned lips. He grabbed the towel off Ye Delun's head and started to dry his hair. "You're going to get sick."
"Sorry." Ye Delun felt a little weird from someone else doing his hair. He remembered that his mother would help him dry it when he was younger. She would still do it to this day if he asked. "I would do it myself, but you said to not take any limbs besides my head out of the blanket."
Zao Xing did say this. For the reasons of one, to keep Ye Delun warm. And two, to cover his exposed body.