After finishing a satisfying meal, Qi Gu leaned back against his chair, resting a hand on his overstuffed belly and rubbing it slowly now and then to help his digestion. His expression was unusually relaxed and soft, and he looked like a sated little animal, far more at home than his usual cool demeanor suggested.
...As though this were an expression he would only show in front of someone extremely close to him.
At that thought, the corners of Lin Hanzhi's lips lifted. He slowly leaned sideways toward him, his palm settling naturally and gently on Qi Gu's lower abdomen.
Qi Gu looked up at him.
Lin Hanzhi was perfectly unapologetic. "Let me rub it for you."
After what had happened in the bathtub earlier, Qi Gu was still a little sensitive to Lin Hanzhi touching his lower abdomen directly and instinctively shrank back. But when he met Lin Hanzhi's aggrieved gaze, he moved his own hand away in resigned surrender, as though helplessly indulging him. "Go ahead."
With Qi Gu, Lin Hanzhi had always been able to get his way with the same old trick.
Qi Gu was a little awkward at first. After all, this was his first relationship, and his first time having someone rub his belly. But gradually, under Lin Hanzhi's slow, gentle, perfectly judged strokes, he adjusted well. His head slowly tilted toward Lin Hanzhi, who was very good at seizing an opening and caught it with his shoulder.
The two sat beneath the warm orange light over the dining table for a long time, Qi Gu's head resting on Lin Hanzhi's shoulder as Lin Hanzhi rubbed his belly.
The sound of the distant surf drifted slowly toward them like a soothing piece of music, drawing them naturally into enjoying the warmth of the moment