Yan Xing had a dilemma. Despite being told not to think about it too much…he was in fact thinking about it…A Lot.

No matter the reason, being kissed–especially the way Jiayi did it— was incredibly embarrassing. He couldn’t avoid Jiayi out of embarrassment or anything though…if he did that he’d be completely alone in the warehouse. So he was only left with the option of continuing to stick to him…but with a permanently embarrassed expression.

“Are you okay? Your face is red…” Yi Boqin asked.

“I-I’m fine…” Yan Xing responded and looked away.

He didn’t know how to feel. On one hand, kissing was incredibly embarrassing but on the other hand, it had been over a week since then and he wasn’t hungry yet so it was also incredibly effective.

“Okay…Don’t be shy about reaching out to the rest of us for help, we don’t bite Y’know?” Yi Boqin said with a smile before walking off.

‘But I do…’ Yan Xing thought to himself and winced a little. He really couldn’t bring himself to get close to everyone else when he was so painfully aware of his condition. He didn’t want to hurt Jiayi’s friends. Especially not when he knew that Jiayi was doing everything he could to keep them safe.

—

Zombies started appearing more often. It had been around a month since the zombies first appeared in the world so it was honestly much slower than anyone expected. Even Jiayi expected that they would be swamped with Zombies by this time but the zombies didn’t come in huge hordes or anything. They just came in small groups of around 10-12. The number was manageable and everyone managed to work on learning to kill them and learning to be more comfortable with the idea of killing them but it was still a clear sign that soon they would have to move on.

While the warehouse was pretty perfect as a base, if zombies started showing up often and in hordes, it would quickly become a death trap. There weren’t enough people in the group to really stay safe so the military groups and survivor settlements seemed to be a better choice than staying as the small group they currently were.

“Pack winter clothes specifically, summer is still far away,” Jiayi suggested as he watched everyone sift through their clothes and the clothes he had bought in advance.

Pretty much every clothing item he had bought was chosen with a focus on utility but there were a few items geared toward warmer months.

Everyone helped each other fill the bags as much as possible as they picked out the clothing.

Jiayi had warned them that they wouldn’t have very many luxuries once they left the warehouse and that They should pack as many clothes as possible because no one knew when they’d be able to wash them.

Yan Xing finished packing his clothes and snuck off to Jiayi’s side soon afterward.

“Are we going to be in the same car?” Yan Xing asked quietly.

Jiayi nodded quickly, “Yep, it’ll be just us.”

Yan Xing was both relieved and a bit embarrassed by the response.

“Are you getting hungry?” Jiayi asked, twirling a strand of Yan Xing’s hair between his fingers with a smile.

Yan Xing turned red and quickly shook his head.

“You sure?” Jiayi asked.

“Yes, I’m sure…” Yan Xing nodded.

“That’s good, I guess it worked well,” Jiayi said and reluctantly let go of Yan Xing’s hair. He then leaned down so he could whisper in Yan Xing’s ear.

“We’ll be leaving in a few days so I’ll feed you sometime soon. Just to make sure it lasts.” Jiayi said and smiled.

Yan Xing didn’t even know how to react to that. Jiayi completely confused him. Was he just completely overthinking it? Was it really no big deal?

—

There were a few hours until they would finally leave the warehouse. Everyone was finishing their packing and Yan Xing and Jiayi were alone in their room.

Yan Xing was nervous and continued to overthink this whole kissing thing as he sat on his bed beside his packed duffle bag. He noticed that Jiayi seemed like he was ready to pay attention to him once he double-checked he had everything and braced himself for what was going to happen. He shut his eyes tightly and pressed his lips together in a straight line.

“You act like I’m going to hit you.” Jiayi chuckled and tilted Yan Xing’s chin.

“I need your mouth open,” Jiayi whispered and opened Yan Xing’s mouth with his thumb. Yan Xing peeked his eyes open and met eyes with Jiayi before quickly closing them, incredibly embarrassed.

Jiayi chuckled a little and kissed him.

Yan Xing now knew he definitely wasn’t overthinking it. His memory of the first time was a bit blurry because he had been in a pretty bad condition both because of the poison and because of his hunger but now he was definitely sure that he was not the one acting weird about all this, Jiayi was WAY TOO CASUAL about all of this.

Jiayi found great amusement in watching Yan Xing’s expression as they kissed and even more amusement in watching his eyes peek open as they changed colors.

‘I will never get sick of that.’ Jiayi said and deepened the kiss, lightly holding the back of Yan Xing’s neck to guide him. He wanted to laugh as he felt Yan Xing tensing up once again. 

He pulled away after a while, “Full?” 

Yan Xing nodded hesitantly as his face reddened even more. He had been full before, he just didn’t want to admit that a tiny part of him wanted to continue.

“I’ll try to feed you once a week, I know it lasts more than that but I don’t want to take any chances,” Jiayi said and ruffled Yan Xing’s hair.

“If I Wait until you’re hungry you might bite my tongue off.” Jiayi chuckled and watched the look of horror on Yan Xing’s face at the thought.

“Oh also, take these,” Jiayi said and handed Yan Xing a sunglasses case.

“Everyone has them but yours are more tinted, you can see through them fine though, right?” Jiayi asked as Yan Xing put on the sunglasses.

“Yeah…” Yan Xing murmured.

“It’s for when your eyes change,” Jiayi said and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Yan Xing kept the sunglasses on. It helped hide his eyes and his expression a bit more.

“Well, let’s get going.” Jiayi chuckled.

—

Yan Xing was no longer thinking of the kiss now that they were actually out on the road. Just like everyone else, he was just thinking about the zombies. It was bright out and the zombies had gotten to the point where they could move but a high-speed chase was still far in the future.

Jiayi wasn't worried at all, he told them to drive fast and they’d be fine but when they got off the highway and into the cities they would have to be on guard to start shooting zombies that got too close or that were just in the way.

“…there’s a lot less of them than I thought,” Jiayi murmured. The zombies were scarce along with the city, much more than he had thought.

“There’s still…a lot…” Yan Xing murmured, looking around.

“No…when we got you, there were more…” Jiayi murmured. The general lack of zombies was concerning. On one hand, it could mean they were dying off, or on the other hand, it could mean they were evolving to be able to hide or that they had joined up with a stronger zombie and moved away.

—-

The highway was calm, it was pretty separated from everywhere else so the few zombies that were around could be taken out without any worries about how much noise their gun would make. They stopped very briefly to eat and take a brief break. 3 out of the 5 cars had only one driver so they needed to take a rest for a while since they were set to arrive at the survivor settlement just after sunset. They would probably be sleeping in their cars and for most of the cars, the driver was also the main ‘offensive force’ so they might need to stay awake through the night to protect their other passenger.

Yan Xing sat in the same passenger side seat and nibbled on a protein bar while Jiayi moved to the back seat for a while to shut his eyes for a little. Yan Xing glanced back at him every once in a while but then awkwardly looked back. He was concerned about their destination.

In the warehouse, Jiayi could check him for bites and everyone would believe him if he said he wasn’t a zombie but in the next settlement that wouldn’t be the case… Jiayi had confirmed with him that he didn’t have any of the tells of a zombie, especially when he was full but he was still worried about it.  If he was found out…Jiayi’s friends might turn on him for trying to hide a zombie among them.

“They probably won’t ask for proof beyond checking your neck and wrists. Not everyone is as paranoid as Ha Yuexin.” Jiayi suddenly said and Yan Xing quickly turned back to face him.

“...h-how..” Yan Xing wondered if he had accidentally said his worries aloud for a second.

“You seemed anxious so I figured that was why,” Jiayi murmured, not bothering to open his eyes.

“The military camp might be a different story though, so prepare yourself,” Jiayi added.

Yan Xing gulped a little. He was nervous again.

“I’ll help you, don’t worry,” Jiayi said and reached over to ruffle Yan Xing’s hair.

—