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The slap reverberates around the room: not unexpected, perhaps, Wu Suo Wei knows Chi Cheng well enough by now to have anticipated something like this, but it still hurts. Wu Suo Wei can’t help the groan that makes its way up his throat, a low, guttural sound, a wordless plea—even though he was determined not to beg for anything, even though up until now he has always found ways to reason with Chi Cheng, to trade with him, to level the playing field between them, this time, his body is betraying him.
He’s not even fighting back against the grip Chi Cheng has on the back of his neck, pressing Wu Suo Wei’s head into the soft pillow with the one hand he’s not currently using to abuse Wu Suo Wei’s bare ass.
"You need this, don’t you?" Chi Cheng breathes into his ear, his voice low and seductive and so damn alluring, his fingers digging into Wu Suo Wei’s ass cheek, possessively grabbing hold of the area where he just hit him, and instead of doing anything sensible like rolling away or kicking or biting or shouting, Wu Wuo Wei finds himself moaning pathetically, completely unable to even pretend not to like it.
Chi Cheng slaps him again, even harder this time, making Wu Suo Wei’s whole body shudder with pain and arousal.
"Say it," Chi Cheng whispers, "admit it. Tell me you need it."
"Never," Wu Suo Wei chokes out, his face flushed from humiliation, angry at his own weakness, "I’ll never say anything like that."
"We’ll see," Chi Cheng says silkily, and the worst thing is that they both know he’s probably going to win this round.
But Wu Suo Wei is determined to put up a fight for as long as he can.
Chi Cheng quickly opens his belt, and before Wu Suo Wei has even had a chance to voice his protest, Chi Cheng has already grabbed his wrists, bent his arms to cross over his back and started to bind his wrists together with the belt, not an unfamiliar sensation to Wu Suo Wei at this point, but Chi Cheng has never bound his hands behind his back before. The awkward angle is a bit uncomfortable but doesn't hurt.
"Ow," Wu Suo Wei complains anyway, because showing Chi Cheng that he is hurting usually makes Chi Cheng stop, but Chi Cheng isn't falling for this trick.
"Say it, come on."
Wu Suo Wei can hear the smile in Chi Cheng’s voice, that damnable, wonderful, elusive smile, and then his body betrays him in the worst way of all when his hips jerk up in search of Chi Cheng’s hands—only a small movement, but an unmistakable one.
"My Wei Wei," Chi Cheng sighs, roughly pulling Wu Suo Wei across his lap to give himself better access, then he slaps him twice, hard, once on each side. "Do you bruise easily?"
The question throws Wu Suo Wei off.
"I don’t know," he pants, roughly. Who even asks stuff like this?
"So we’ll find out together," Chi Cheng says, unperturbed, "isn’t that fun?"
Wu Suo Wei makes an angry noise that turns into a lewd moan when Chi Cheng spanks him again, and again, and again—Wu Suo Wei loses count after four. It hurts, yes, but by all rights, the pain should be awful and it’s anything but. Wu Suo Wei should hate this. Wu Suo Wei should fight back. Wu Suo Wei should want to get away. Wu Suo Wei should…
Wu Suo Wei moans, his legs shaking, his body thoroughly unwilling to move away from these sensations.
I need it, he thinks desperately, I need it, I need it, I need it.
Chi Cheng is merciless, like he always is when it comes to dishing out pain: he is heartless and selfish and meticulous and Wu Suo Wei has never been so desperate to be under anyone’s care. It does feel like care, strangely enough. It feels like devotion.
Chi Cheng’s sharp slaps do something strange to Wu Suo Wei’s mind, like the pain is a gateway to relaxation, and even the awkward angle of his arms bound behind his back becomes a part of the bone-deep relief he is feeling: the pain is soothing a part of his soul that had been in turmoil much too long, a part of his soul that only Chi Cheng understands, that only Chi Cheng knows how to handle.
Chi Cheng caresses him in between: his slender fingers on Wu Suo Wei’s hot and hurting skin are an addiction, a need so deep and desperate that is would be scaring Wu Suo Wei if he had the capacity to be scared of anything right now. But there is no room for such emotions in his mind, not when Chi Cheng is holding him down like this, not when he is touching him like this, making Wu Suo Wei feel so wholly owned, possessed, wanted—safe.
Just when Wu Suo Wei lets himself relax completely, lets himself be possessed completely, Chi Cheng pushes him away.
Wu Suo Wei ends up lying on the mattress, half on his back, his bound arms underneath him at an awkard angle, but he doesn’t have the strength to move his body to make himself more comfortable. He lies there like a broken toy, dazed and discarded.
The feeling is awful, like a dark pit opening up in his stomach, a betrayal so terrible that Wu Suo Wei can’t even quite get his head around it. His mind doesn’t seem to be working right: he can’t string one coherent thought together, much less a sentence. Take me back, is the only, desperate thought on his mind, touch me again, touch me, touch me, touch me, take me back into your arms where I belong.
"Tell me you need it," Chi Cheng whispers silkily.
Oh.
Understanding comes to Wu Suo Wei slowly. This is the moment he is going to lose their battle of wills. Maybe it was never much of a battle to begin with, if Wu Suo Wei is so easily defeated.
"I need it," Wu Suo Wei breathes out, his whole body feeling utterly fragile, "I need it."
Chi Cheng leans over him, grabs his face and kisses him roughly. Wu Suo Wei gasps into the kiss, half in pain, his soul still reeling from the unexpected betrayal, but Chi Cheng’s possessive hands on him are soothing that particular ache, and when he bites Wu Suo Wei’s lower lip, Wu Suo Wei thinks that maybe being defeated by Chi Cheng isn’t so bad. Maybe, he wants to be defeated over and over again.
Wu Suo Wei melts into being possessed, being owned, being solely belonging to Chi Cheng—he wants to belong, so desperately wants to be claimed and taken and devoured that it’s making his soul shudder.
"The belt next?" Chi Cheng asks against his lips, breathlessly, and somehow, absurdly, that makes Wu Suo Wei laugh.
Chi Cheng’s lips split into a smile against Wu Suo Wei’s own, and for a glorious, beautiful moment, Wu Suo Wei’s soul feels as one with the whole universe, a vessel for bliss.
"I’m yours," he sighs, and suddenly he’s shivering with sadness, because why the hell is Chi Cheng even asking, why isn’t he just taking, when Wu Suo Wei so desperately wants him to just take whatever he wants. "Don’t you know that I’m yours?"
Chi Cheng kisses him again, softer this time, almost careful, running his fingers through Wu Suo Wei’s hair soothingly.
"Of course you’re mine," he whispers gently. "You’ve always been mine. And I’ll never let you go."
"Prove it," Wu Suo Wei begs, going for haughty but hitting lovestruck, his voice a shaking mess of desperation, his emotions tumbling around inside him like drunk butterflies.
Chi Cheng turns Wu Suo Wei around to lie across his lap again and quickly takes the belt off his wrists—next thing Wu Suo Wei knows, that belt is hitting his already hurting and abused backside, and something bright and wonderful slots into place inside his soul.
I need it, he thinks, and it really is true. He needs this so bad he’s willing to lose his battle of wills against Chi Cheng over and over again. He needs this so bad he’s willing to hand his dignity to Chi Cheng on a platter and never demand its return. He needs this so bad that he’s willing to surrender forever.
Chi Cheng is unforgiving with the belt, and Wu Suo Wei wouldn’t have it any other way. The pain is a kind thing, it soothes the upheavals in Wu Suo Wei’s soul, making him feel safe again just like before. This time, when Wu Suo Wei’s whole body relaxes into Chi Cheng’s ownership, Chi Cheng doesn’t push him away. There is no more need for such things: Wu Suo Wei has already been defeated.
Wu Suo Wei lets the moans and sighs roll over his tongue as each harsh strike of the belt pushes him further towards peaceful happiness, and then he laughs, and then he cries.
***
"Da Bao," Chi Cheng whispers, his voice both rough and soothing at the same time, caressing Wu Suo Wei’s tear-stained face, "look at me."
Wu Suo Wei looks at him.
Chi Cheng’s gaze on him is vulnerable, much more vulnerable than Wu Suo Wei is used to, and it’s like an arrow striking his heart, a sudden, painful realization how deeply they belong to each other, how desperately they need each other.
"Was I too rough on you?"
Wu Suo Wei shakes his head slowly, his whole being trembling with a terrible kind of weakness, like Chi Cheng is the first person who has ever truly seen him. For one cowardly moment, Wu Suo Wei wants to avert his eyes, but he doesn’t give in to the impulse. Instead, he keeps staring at Chi Cheng, at Chi Cheng’s soft, vulnerable eyes, this part of Chi Cheng the world never gets to see. As much as Wu Suo Wei is vulnerable in Chi Cheng’s arms, the same is true in reverse.
"Kiss me," Wu Suo Wei whispers brokenly, almost despite himself, his soul fragile before Chi Cheng, and when Chi Cheng does, Wu Suo Wei leans into his touch as much as he can, wishing he could melt into Chi Cheng’s arms, that he could always be touched with such reverence, such devotion, that he could always be seen the way Chi Cheng sees him.
After the kiss, Chi Cheng holds him in his arms, holds him close with an iron grip like he’s afraid that Wu Suo Wei will disappear if he lets up for even a second. Wu Suo Wei presses his face into Chi Cheng’s chest.
"Don’t push me away again," he mumbles.
Chi Cheng buries one hand in Wu Suo Wei’s hair, quite unable to be gentle with the movement, but Wu Suo Wei doesn’t need him to be gentle.
"So don’t make me push you away," Chi Cheng says, his voice both rough and vulnerable, "I hope you learned your lesson."
Wu Suo Wei nods against him. He’ll be good and say whatever Chi Cheng wants him to say next time: in this battle of wills, he has already lost. Strangely, his defeat feels more like a victory than anything else.