#rotmhs

The morning sun sliced through the crack in the window, landing directly on your eyelids. You let out a low, sleep-heavy groan, rolling over to escape the glare, only for your face to smack directly into something solid.

‘What the…?’

Still half-asleep, your hand wandered upward to investigate. Your palm flattened against a firm, unyielding expanse of lean muscle, though the warm, smooth skin stretched over it gave it a deceiving softness. It rose and fell with a steady, rhythmic breath.

Before your sluggish brain could piece together who you were in bed with, your fingers blindly continued their exploration. They grazed over a sudden, taut peak. Curious, and entirely lacking your waking inhibitions, you pinched it lightly, rubbing the sensitive spot between your index and middle fingers to figure out what exactly you were touching.

"GAH—!"

The sudden, undignified yelp erupted right above your head.

Adrenaline spiked through your veins. You violently flinched, trying to scramble backward away from the noise, but you barely moved an inch. A heavy, muscular arm was clamped like a vice around your waist, instantly tightening to keep you trapped flush against the bed.

Then came the voice. The rough, demanding tone you had somehow fallen hopelessly in love with, even during his most rabid, feral-dog moments.

"Have you lost your absolute mind?!" Chung Myung barked, his voice cracking slightly in his outrage. "Do you have a death wish first thing in the morning?! What kind of pervert tries to twist off a sleeping person's nipple?!"

Your eyes flew open, the last dregs of sleep vanishing as you stared up into the flushed, furious face of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint.

Your brain completely short-circuited. Chung Myung. Your friend. Your drinking partner. Your secret, long-time crush, and—as of recently—your friend with benefits. The sheer reality of being tangled in his sheets, your hand still hovering guiltily near his chest, sent a wave of heat rushing to your cheeks.

"I... I was asleep!" you stammered, entirely lost in the sight of his messy black hair and the furious pout twisting his lips with those pink of eyes of his starring daggers at you.

‘so pretty even when like this.’

Chung Myung was still ranting, his complaints loud enough to wake the entire sect. "Unbelievable. I let my guard down to get a few hours of rest, and this is the thanks I get? Assaulted in my own bed—YAH! Are you even listening to me?!"

You blinked, realizing you had been completely zoned out, staring blankly at the collarbone you had been mapping with your tongue only hours prior.

Before you could apologize, Chung Myung’s eyes narrowed. His annoyance shifted into something darker, sharper. Without warning, he dipped his head and clamped his teeth hard down on the juncture of your neck and shoulder.

You gasped, your spine arching instinctively. It wasn't enough to draw blood, but the bite was a sharp, possessive shock of pain that radiated heat straight to your core.

"Acting all shameless and then ignoring me," he grumbled, his lips brushing against the sensitive skin he had just bruised. He shifted his weight, his heavy thigh pinning your legs to the mattress. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

The sheer hypocrisy of the statement made your breath hitch. Ashamed? After the completely unhinged, depraved things the two of you had done to each other the night before? His hands had been everywhere, leaving marks that were still fading on your hips, and yet here he was, acting like a wronged maiden over a sleepy poke to the chest.

"You hypocrite," you breathed out, your hands coming up to weakly push against his shoulders. "You did way worse to me last night."

"Hah!" Chung Myung let out a loud, incredulous scoff, entirely ruining whatever fragile tension was in the room.

Instead of backing off or acting smooth, he simply dropped his full, dead weight directly on top of you, deliberately knocking the wind out of your lungs with an unapologetic grunt.

"Worse? I'll have you know I was being incredibly generous last night!" he complained loudly, resting his chin heavy on your chest and glaring down at you like you had just insulted his ancestors. "Do you have any idea how much physical exertion that took? I practically gave you free dual-cultivation, and this is the respect I get? Extortion! It’s highway robbery!"

You groaned, trying to squirm out from under him, but it was like trying to shove a boulder off a cliff. "Get off, you're crushing me—"

"I am a defenseless, innocent victim who was just assaulted by a bandit," he deadpanned, utterly unbothered by your struggling.

"Who could even assault you—?!"

Then, he shifted. His obnoxious complaining trailed off as he dragged himself up a few inches, burying his face back into the crook of your neck full of several huge bite marks and hickeys . The messy sprawl of his dark hair tickled your jaw. For a long moment, he just lay there. The silence stretched, the pacing slowing down as the reality of his heavy, radiating body heat began to sink into your skin. He wasn't just a heavy weight anymore; he was a coiled spring.

When he spoke again, that loud, screeching tone was completely gone. In its place was the low, rough rumble of a martial artist who was wide awake and hyper-focused on his target.

"Besides," he muttered against your collarbone, his hot breath making you shiver despite yourself. "You incurred a debt by waking me up."

You swallowed hard, your heart rate picking up. "A... debt?"

"Obviously," Chung Myung grumbled, his teeth lightly scraping against the sensitive skin he had just bitten. His heavy hand, previously pinning your waist, slid upward with rough, calloused intent, his fingers digging possessively into your hip. "If you have enough energy to go poking around at the crack of dawn, it means I was way too lenient with you last night."

He finally lifted his head to look down at you. The annoyance in his dark eyes had melted into that feral, manic glint—the exact same look he got right before completely decimating an opponent.

"Since you ruined my hard-earned sleep" he whispered, a sharp, unhinged grin pulling at the corners of his mouth as his knee parted your thighs, "you're going to pay it back in full. Try not to pass out this time."