Help! I'm the Plot Device: Just Here to Save the Heroes

Mission Failed: We Fell in Love Instead

Yan's eyes opened-slow, soft, searching.

"You think?" His voice wavered between teasing and genuinely shaken. "And you're doing all this?"

"Are you-" he began.

Jerry silenced him by catching his lips again-slower this time, savoring the softness.

He whispered against his mouth, lips brushing as he spoke:

"Whatever this is... you belong only to me."

Yan went still.

Then his hands rose, cupping Jerry's cheeks gently-eyes intense, unreadable, trembling just a little.

"...What?"

Jerry kissed Yan's palm, warm and deliberate.

"I'll make sure you remember that," he murmured.

Yan didn't get the chance to react-Jerry leaned in again, kissing him deeper, fingers brushing the edge of Yan's robe until it slid off one shoulder.

Yan caught Jerry's wrists quickly. "Don't."

Jerry paused, eyebrows lifting.
"Really?"

A beat of hesitation.

Yan's lips parted-just a breath, just a moment too long.

Jerry's smile curved knowingly.
"Mm... not really."

He dipped down, kissing the curve of Yan's neck again.

Yan laughed softly-breathless, the sound vibrating against Jerry's lips.

"That... tickles," he whispered.

Jerry's mouth slid up to his ear.
"Oh? Then this will be worse."

He kissed just beneath it-slow, warm, lingering.

Yan's breath hitched hard. A helpless sound escaped him.

Jerry's hands tightened on his waist, a wicked smile forming.

"You're a wicked kid..." Yan murmured, voice breaking slightly.

Jerry traced his jaw with his lips. "You don't know how much."

Soft laughter spilled between them. Warmth swelled, slow and steady, wrapping around them like another layer of night.

Their foreheads touched. Fingers intertwined.
Neither pulled away.

The world outside kept shifting, moving, searching but inside the room, time softened.

The lantern light dimmed,
their shadows merged on the floor,
and without ever saying it out loud...

they didn't spend the night apart.

🧶🐱🧶

Yichen's Quarters l Morning

The first thing Jerry felt was warmth.

A slow, heavy warmth draped over him like a living blanket.

For a moment he didn't even open his eyes-he simply breathed in the still air of the room. The curtains were drawn halfway, letting in thin ribbons of pale morning light that touched the corners of the bed. Last night's scattered clothes created a trail across the floor, the faint scent of sandalwood and something sweeter-Li Jie-lingering in the quiet space.

Jerry shifted slightly... and felt him.

Yan An was curled tightly against his bare chest, his cheek pressed over Jerry's heart as if that was simply where he belonged. One of Yan's arms wrapped around Jerry's waist; the other lay loosely across his stomach. And his leg-light, warm-was tangled over Jerry's thigh.