Chapter 35

Asher thought Sebastian had the best manners when drunk out of anyone he had ever met.

Even though he bit and threw spoiled tantrums while wasted, he actually managed to remember the password to someone else's front door. He seamlessly navigated his way up to the second floor, walked right into the correct bedroom, and even managed to pick out the most expensive, softest set of pajamas from an entire closet to claim as his own.

It wasn't until Sebastian started unbuttoning his shirt, one button at a time right in front of him, that Asher finally remembered Sebastian was genuinely drunk—drunk enough to start acting like a complete rogue.

Seeing Sebastian already place his hand on his belt buckle, Asher hurriedly stepped forward and slapped his hand down over it.

Sebastian tilted his head slightly, looking at him as he asked with total righteousness, "What are you doing?"

"I should be asking you what you're doing taking off your pants."

"How am I supposed to shower without taking them off? Did you want me sleeping in your bed reeking of alcohol?"

"Even so, you can't just strip right in front of me."

"What are you afraid of? It's not like you haven't seen it before."

Asher found those words incredibly familiar. For a moment, he was entirely at a loss for words.

Not too long ago, in this exact room, this exact person had been unable to stand him walking around without pants, and Asher had used those exact lines to counter him.

Now that the roles were reversed, he suddenly understood why Sebastian had slammed the door and stormed out back then.

Without another thought, he yanked open the bathroom door, shoved Sebastian inside, and slammed it shut with a loud bang. Then he grabbed his own pajamas and headed down to the first-floor bathroom.

When Sebastian had just pulled at his belt, that glimpse of his lower abs looked almost intentionally exposed to seduce him. Sebastian was drunk and didn't know any better, but Asher was sober; he needed to avoid any suspicion.

Asher concluded he was a remarkably righteous person.

By the time he finished his shower and returned to his room, their discarded clothes had already been meticulously folded and placed neatly on the clothing rack. A glass of warm water sat on the nightstand, and Sebastian had already fallen asleep.

He was lying flat on his back, the blanket pulled up to his chest. His breathing was shallow and even, and his black silk pajamas were slightly open. The dark fabric made his face and collarbone look fragile and pale. His features seemed increasingly cold and elegant, his lips thin and light in color.

Even with his collar open, he still looked exceptionally chaste and restrained.

How on earth had he started thinking of such an elegant, cold person as a male fox spirit lately?

Asher felt like something was definitely wrong with himself.

Although Sebastian had a sharp tongue, he was a true gentleman. Whether it was during Asher's presentation, his mating heat, or when his suppressants were running low, Sebastian had never once taken advantage of him. He had dutifully fulfilled the role of a proper friend.

So the problem definitively lay with himself.

It was probably because his Omega hormones were influencing him post-presentation, making him look at Alphas differently. But Asher didn't think it was an issue, because he knew it was completely impossible for him to ever like an Alpha.

It wasn't because he preferred soft, sweet types—he had never liked anyone before, so he didn't know what his type was either. He simply, purely refused to accept being marked.

Being marked meant being possessed. He would never accept being possessed by anyone in his entire life.

Since neither he nor Sebastian harbored those kinds of intentions, there was no need to care too much about the so-called boundaries between Alphas and Omegas. After all, across all these years, Sebastian only had him by his side, and the only person Asher could unconditionally trust and throw tantrums with was also Sebastian.

Thinking up to this point, Asher casually rubbed his damp hair a few times, lifted the blanket, climbed into bed, turned off the lights, and prepared to sleep.

The weather hadn't completely cooled down yet, so there was only a single blanket on his bed. When he lay down, his arm accidentally brushed against Sebastian's.

It seemed to wake him, as Sebastian let out a low, muffled murmur. The pronunciation was thoroughly blurred, and Asher couldn't catch it cleanly. It merely sounded like someone's name. Spurred by a sudden interest, he rolled onto his side, leaning close to Sebastian as he asked in a low voice, "What did you just say?"

He originally intended to take advantage of Sebastian's dazed state to extract a few secrets. But when Sebastian remained silent for a long time, Asher curled his lip with impatience, turning back around to continue sleeping. Yet through the rustle of the sheets, he faintly caught a few more blurred words.

"I miss you."

"I'm coming back."

"Don't be mad at me."

"Alright?"

The sleeping voice sounded so gentle it carried a trace of sorrow.

Sebastian was missing someone—missing them so much that he was coaxing them in his dreams, desperately wanting to go back and find them.

It was probably the person he liked back in the capital.

It turned out he had been thinking too much. An Alpha as excellent and perfect as Sebastian would definitely have a wonderful Omega to accompany him through life. Meanwhile, he would merely serve as the so-called best friend from the past, slowly fading out of Sebastian's life until he vanished completely.

Thinking here, Asher suddenly felt a spike of irritation. He concluded Sebastian was a genuine piece of trash who prioritized romance over friendship.

Unexpectedly, for the sake of marrying a wife, he would abandon his friend. Maybe his wife would even forbid Sebastian from hanging out with him because he was an Omega. Sebastian liked her so much that he would definitely listen to her, and stop hanging out with him entirely. More than a decade of brotherly bond would be thrown straight to the dogs.

What absolute trash. The more Asher thought about it, the angrier he got, desperately wishing he could just strangle this ungrateful bastard.

So he actually extended his hands, gesturing toward Sebastian's neck. But the exact fraction of a second his fingers brushed against Sebastian's skin, his wrist was sharply snared.

The speed and force of that grip clearly stemmed from a primal instinct for self-preservation.

Asher's heart suddenly twinged. How insecure did this person have to be to keep his nerves tensed even while sleeping, completely terrified of dropping his guard?

Then again, this was an individual who would meticulously fold clothes even when completely wasted.

Living with this much caution and self-restraint—wasn't it exhausting?

But how on earth could anyone blame him.

Asher still remembered that after Mr. Wen passed away, the entire Sebastian household was consumed by a relentless rush of tasks. By nightfall, across that massive European-style townhouse, the only person left was a six-year-old child who had just lost his dad.

Back then, the little Asher would press his face against his own window, tracking when the lights in the opposite window would turn off. In the end, even when his own eyelids started crashing together, the lights opposite remained bright.

He guessed the little Sebastian must be terrified of sleeping alone, so he cried and threw a tantrum, forcing his parents to let Sebastian sleep with him.

The bed back then was also very massive, surrounded by soft-padded railings. The two tiny children huddled tightly together.

The little Asher wanted to comfort the little Sebastian the way his mom comforted him, wanting to embrace him. But his little arms were far too short; no matter how hard he reached toward Sebastian's chest, he couldn't reach any further.

Even though it should have been the age for the deepest sleep, Sebastian would awaken at the slightest touch. Snaring that short little hand pressed against his chest, his eyes were alert and uneasy. Only when he saw it was the little Asher did a smile break across his face, before he turned his body to pull him into a tight embrace.

The two little children slept exceptionally well, neither throwing a single tantrum.

After a span of twelve years, this exact scene played out once more.

Sebastian snared the hand that was attempting to cause mischief, before slowly lifting his eyelids. Casting a glance at the person right before his face, a faint smile curved the corners of his lips. Then his eyelids dropped once more as he turned his body, pulling Asher into an embrace before sliding back into a deep sleep.

He was far too fatigued, far too exhausted, and his drunk state left him thoroughly uncomfortable.

He slept deeply and peacefully, but Asher was trapped in a bottleneck of absolute awkwardness. His entire frame was enveloped by Sebastian, pinned tightly against his chest. One of his hands was held flat against Sebastian's chest, completely unable to be pulled free. Wanting to forcefully break away, he feared waking him; the two were pressed tightly together, the thin silk pajamas sliding loosely down their shoulders.

For two youths who had already developed to heights of over six feet, this posture no longer mirrored the pure, innocent warmth of childhood. Instead, it carried a trace of an indefinable intimacy.

The Alpha and Omega pheromones blended shallowly, a perfect fit.

Asher felt a fraction uncomfortable at the very start. But the fragrance radiating from Sebastian's frame was far too pleasant to breathe, and slowly, he unexpectedly drifted off to sleep as well.

Exactly like the past, the two children slept exceptionally well.

This counted as a rare luxury for Sebastian.

During the previous instances they shared a room, Asher's condition had always been highly specific. Sebastian had to keep his nerves tensed at every moment, shrinking from dropping his guard for a single second out of a sheer terror that something would go wrong with Asher.

But this once, he could finally relax completely, indulging his system to secure a flawless night of sleep.

He had always been a shallow sleeper. Every single time a nightmare surfaced, he would awaken instantly, before draining a glass of cold water and lying back down. As for whether he could successfully drift back to sleep, it relied entirely on luck.

This was a habit he cultivated after moving to the capital at the age of fourteen.

Throughout those three years, the nightmare that surfaced most frequently was dreaming that his true feelings were laid completely bare right in front of Asher.

Then, that proud, fastidious youth would look upon him with absolute disgust scoring his features, delivering a line: 'Sebastian, how can you be this disgusting? You're an Alpha, how can you possibly like my frame? I'm an Alpha too. We're best brothers, how can you like your own brother.'

Finishing his line, the youth marched off.

Leaving him completely alone, stranded across a vast expanse of white snow, awakening into an endless loop of loneliness and absolute despair to face the long night.

But this once, waking up allowed him to quickly slide back to sleep. That vast expanse of white snow finally revealed a proper path, and at the end of the path, a rose bloomed beautifully. Across that desolate, barren, uninhabited snowy earth, it stood arrogant and flourishing, possessing a magnificent beauty that defied the universe.

He marched forward pace by pace, extending his hand to embrace it. Even when the thorns pierced his skin, he failed to register a single shred of pain.

Fortunately, his rose possessed an exceptionally soft heart. Feeling a single prick, it instantly withdrew all its thorns, before pressing its delicate petals against his palm a few times as if delivering a gentle comfort.

Granting his core a total rush of pure joy.

The dream shattered.

Everything vanished.

Except for an actual Asher tightly encircling his waist, his face rubbing back and forth restlessly against his neck cavity.

Sebastian couldn't hold down a smile. It turned out this certain someone fancied embracing him after drifting off to sleep—it held zero connection to a mating heat, but tracked to the reality that he simply loved holding people by nature.

He wanted to brace his frame upright, yet the exact fraction of a second he pushed himself up, he collapsed right back down.

The hangover genuinely inflicted an intense wave of discomfort.

Throughout last night, he had been authentically drunk. He maintained absolute clarity regarding what text he delivered and what tasks he executed, yet lacked the capacity to control his actions. Consequently, he indulged his system to execute a few reckless actions he completely would have been barred from executing on regular days.

For instance, delivering an absolute bite against the person.

For instance, tricking the person into guiding him straight onto the bed.

And for instance, stripping his clothes right right before the person's face, before holding the person to sleep for an entire night.

If it were stated that his own reckless behavior traced to the alcohol, then Asher being subjected to the reckless behavior tracked to the reality that he was uniquely gifted at being an absolute idiot.

Those individuals who spent entire days bellowing that Ash was invincible, Ash was the most dominant, and Ash was peerless across the board, would likely never anticipate that a noble, cold, and easily provoked cat turned out to be this soft and yielding behind closed doors. Coaxing him a fraction allowed a person to hold him and rub his small stomach for an entire day—even if he occasionally executed a few scratches, they refrained from inflicting pain.

Fortunately, he genuinely loved him and cherished him, refraining from purely craving his physical form. Otherwise, this Omega would have been completely cleared away.

Sebastian wanted to tap his head to evaluate what exact model was engineered inside his brain. Yet the exact fraction of a second his hand lifted, Asher's brows knitted as he rubbed against his frame a couple of times, before opening his eyes with total impatience.

The exact fraction of a second his eyes opened to look upon Sebastian, a primal reflex triggered him to execute a sharp shove, his frame recoiling backward.

Sebastian's features currently radiated a total laziness, appearing a fraction less sharp compared against regular days. Yet catching Asher's movement, his tone remained completely mocking: "Are you calculating to unleash a loud scream next, before slapping my face, yanking the blanket open to evaluate whether your pants are fastened securely, and subsequently cross-examining my frame regarding whether I executed a single task against you last night?"

"..."

Such a familiar sequence of events; he seemed to have witnessed it across a television drama before.

Evaluating Asher's thoroughly dazed expression, Sebastian let out a low scoff: "But the individual who consumed far too much last night was my frame, far from being your system. The individual snared inside an embrace upon waking up this morning was also my frame, far from being your system. I have refrained from tumbling into an absolute panic, so what exactly are you panicking for?"

Asher picked up a sensation that something was amiss, wanting to launch a counter-argument.

Yet his lips remained locked in a hard face as he simmered for half a minute, only managing to choke out a fiercely explosive line: "Rest your mind securely, I executed absolutely nothing against your frame."

Sebastian completely failed to restrain himself, letting out a soft chuckle.

The moment he laughed, Asher finally snapped back to his senses. He aligned as an absolute Omega, so what on earth could he execute against Sebastian? Even if he calculated to execute a forced physical dominance command, his own capability completely lagged behind the necessary threshold.

Comprehending the reality that Sebastian was merely teasing him, his fury exploded instantly. Snaring his pillow, he slammed it straight over Sebastian’s face.

Smothering this absolute bastard to death.

Sebastian executed a feather-light deflection, blocking the pillow cleanly.

Unhappy, Asher turned his body to sit directly on top of Sebastian, his two hands gripping the pillow as he applied an intense downward pressure, his entire heart focused on smothering Sebastian to death.

Sebastian also preserved his upstanding front, concluding that the visual layout of being smothered appeared a fraction unseemly, while simultaneously fearing that a physical struggle might unleash too immense a force on his part, lacking proper discretion. Consequently, he directly located the spot on Asher's waist that was most sensitive to tickling, driving a cycle of prodding and scratching.

Sure enough, Asher's physical strength went entirely soft as his waist collapsed, dropping flat onto Sebastian's chest.

Sebastian weaponized the momentum to flip their positions, pinning him flat against the mattress. A single hand seamlessly locked both of Asher's wrists together to hoist them over his head, looking down at him as he raised an eyebrow: "Are you calculating to transform my birthday milestone into an absolute memorial anniversary? This level of cold-hearted venom?"

Asher’s brows knitted: "Spit it out three times quickly!"

"?"

"Hurry up and spit!"

Sebastian let out a soft chuckle: "Flawless, tfu, tfu, tfu, is that passable enough?"

"A birthday milestone bars an individual from delivering words of sallow fortune." Asher was this intensely furious that he completely forgot his current posture mirrored a tiny kitten pinned flat against a chopping board.

Sebastian calculated this was a clear case of allowing the magistrate to light fires while barring the commoners from lighting lanterns, launching a cross-examination: "Didn't your system initiate the track first, calculating to smother my frame to death right on my birthday?"

Asher possessed the absolute awareness that his own logic lagged behind, displaying an upstanding attitude: "I was wrong."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

This easy to talk alongside? Acknowledging the error this rapidly? Exactly when did Asher transform into a model this compliant?

A single fraction of a distraction, and during the very next second, Asher’s hands broke free from the lock, launching a direct raid straight against Sebastian's armpits and waistline, working his fingers up and down across his frame: "Deploying a tickling command during an actual combat layout, what exact breed of a man do you count as?"

"Asher, your system hits a complete conclusion. You have unexpectedly mastered the track for executing a deceptive scheme."

Sebastian was also sensitive to tickling, moving instantly to snare Asher's hands, while simultaneously gripping his waistline to scratch with intense force.

The two launched a collaborative cycle of laughter and curses, twisting together into an absolute ball.

Romping and battling along the path, the two abruptly ground to an absolute halt.

Not a single soul dared to execute another single movement.