Chapter Text
Chu Wanning looks around awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She’s never been in a gay bar before. Can they tell she’s—something? Is she dressed appropriately? She can almost hear Taxian-jun admonishing how little skin she’s showing and how she looks like a librarian and not the hot kind with her blazer, her white button-up blouse, and her knee-length pencil skirt. Maybe she should undo her top button, at least…she toys with the one at her collarbone, considering. She doesn’t want to look frigid.
She unbuttons it, fidgets for a minute, then quickly buttons it again.
She wishes she’d taken Xue Zhengyong and Wang Chuqing up on their offer to come with her. This is unbearable. How is she supposed to just talk to someone? Will they think she’s trying to sleep with them? Will they not think that? She doesn't like most people; does she even really want to sleep with anybody here? She’s only ever been with Taxian-jun. She can’t imagine being with anyone else, of any gender. She looks around the room again, considering. It’s pretty early; there are a few couples talking casually or sitting not-so-casually close at various tables. A small group is laughing in the corner. Nobody is dancing, though there is a space presumably for that and some pop song blaring through the speakers.
Not for the first time Chu Wanning wishes she weren't so cold. She knows how rude and distant she comes off. Taxian-jun has certainly called her weird and too-quiet enough, and he's far from the only person to realize it. Xue Zhengyong told her she just needed to loosen up a little, that maybe a drink and some good sex would help. Wang Chuqing had chided her husband for terrible advice and making their old friend blush, then gently, with a hand on her arm, asked Chu Wanning if she'd ever really liked being with her boyfriend at all and wondered if she'd ever considered dating a woman.
She tries to imagine sitting here with any partner, maybe their arm around her waist like the women sharing a seat next to her, but the thought is so totally unbelievable and uncomfortable that she shivers. Taxian-jun had loved PDA, taking every opportunity in their ten years together to squeeze her ass or fondle her breasts no matter how many people were around, loving to publicly stake his claim on her. She wasn't a fan, to put it mildly.
It’s not like anyone here would want to be with her anyway. Chu Wanning knows what she looks like. And everyone here is so beautiful and stunningly confident. Her eyes are drawn especially to a woman sitting at the end of the bar, laughing with a friend. Her undercut puts her delicate face and shining eyes into stark relief. Her dimples turn her loud guffawing laugh into something almost cute. She’s wearing a leather jacket over a low-cut tank top and Chu Wanning is horrified to find herself staring at her chest but she can’t seem to make herself look away. She’s…very big. There. And as she laughs she…bounces, a little. It’s surprising because she’s so slender everywhere else, but with clear lightly toned muscles Chu Wanning can see as she shrugs off her jacket, revealing lean tanned brown arms.
A puzzle piece slots into place in her brain. Is this how attraction is supposed to feel?! This woman is so gorgeous. Chu Wanning feels like she’s been handed a cup of water in the middle of a desert. She can’t stop looking. She might be gaping like a fish. She really should stop before…
Oh no.
She noticed her. She’s looking right at her. Their eyes are locked—have been for god only knows how long.
Oh no oh no oh no. She’s going to think Chu Wanning is some kind of pervert. What was she doing looking at a complete stranger like that? She probably wants to enjoy the night with her companion and Chu Wanning is the freak who ruined it and is making them both uncomfortable. Chu Wanning’s cheeks are on fire and she frantically breaks her gaze and buries herself in her drink. Maybe if she just doesn’t look again…
“Hi.”
Chu Wanning’s heart stops. She tries to will herself to say something but all she can do is peek up, blushing furiously.
“I’m Mo Ran. Can I buy you a drink?”
The beautiful woman—Mo Ran—is leaning up against the bar casually, grinning like she knows every embarrassing thought that’s running through Chu Wanning’s mind. Her shiny black-painted nails are drumming along her tight jeans and she’s tall enough that with Chu Wanning sitting down, she’s practically at eye level with her breasts. She tries desperately to stop staring at them.
She’s even prettier closer up.
Chu Wanning’s mouth goes dry. She wants to say yes. She wants to so, so badly. But her body is seizing up and she’s hyperaware of every other person in the room who might be listening. Unconsciously, she hunches into herself, feeling miserable.
“Hey,” Mo Ran says, gently nudging her with her shoulder. “I don’t bite. You’re really cute. Is it your first time here?” She smiles encouragingly.
The shock of this woman calling her cute shakes her out of her frozen stupor. Chu Wanning nods, and miraculously, finds her voice. “Chu Wanning. I apologize for my staring earlier.”
“It’s no problem,” Mo Ran says with an easy smile. “I liked it. What are you drinking? Let me get you another one.” She gestures at Chu Wanning’s nearly-empty drink.
Chu Wanning doesn’t actually remember what it was called. It’s pink and fruity and very sweet. She can’t admit that to Mo Ran, though; what if she thinks she’s an idiot?
In her panic, she can only think of one way out of this. Trying to be casual, she holds the cocktail out to Mo Ran, praying it’s distinctive enough to recognize. “Here," she says, “try it.” Her heart is pounding at her own boldness.
Mo Ran smirks like she’s offered drinks all the time, which frankly she probably is. She takes the drink, brushing against Chu Wanning’s fingers as she does and leaving a trail of fire behind on them. She twists the glass around and places her lips right against the faint lipstick stain Chu Wanning’s mouth had left behind on the rim. She’s still smirking at Chu Wanning over the glass…until the drink touches her lips and she grimaces. “Euch, this is so sweet! It’s like liquid sugar.”
Chu Wanning frowns, defensive. “You didn’t have to taste it. Leave if you hate it so much.”
Mo Ran giggles. “Bit of an overreaction, jiejie.” She continues despite Chu Wanning’s angry huff. “What about trying a little spice?” She holds out her cup; a cocktail with something orange around the rim. Not wanting to look like a coward, Chu Wanning hesitantly takes it and drinks a mouthful.
It’s liquid fire. She spits it out right at Mo Ran accidentally, coughing and choking. Eyes watering, she grabs at her original drink and sucks it down until she can breathe again.
Mo Ran bursts out laughing. “Hahaha! Jiejie! I really didn’t think a jalapeño margarita would be that bad! I’m sorry!”
When Chu Wanning emerges from her drink, she doesn’t know what kind of picture she makes, with her eyes rimmed with tears and her face tinged pink. Mo Ran reacts to it though; her eyes glinting sharply with something that makes Chu Wanning a little uneasy. She feels like a helpless deer caught in the sight of a predator, frozen.
But Mo Ran lets go of her, breaking the spell by reaching over the bar to fill Chu Wanning’s empty glass with water from the tap. “Here. I really am sorry.”
Mollified, Chu Wanning settles down from where she’d almost left in a huff. She knows she needs to try to tame her temper better, so she nods in acceptance and sits next to Mo Ran.
They talk for a while. Mo Ran’s a student and part-time delivery person to pay the bills. She has a motorcycle, she says, which makes all the leather make more sense. Her cousin lives in the city and she lived with him briefly after she was kicked out of her foster home. He and his parents helped support her start her transition but as of a few months ago she has her own place and is working to pay them back.
When Chu Wanning mentions she broke up with her boyfriend a few months ago and she's never been with a woman before, Mo Ran almost drools.
She isn’t sure what Mo Ran’s intentions are until a few minutes later, when Mo Ran leans forward to whisper in her ear, her low voice sending a shiver down Chu Wanning’s spine. "I want to take you out of here and fuck your brains out. How about it?"
Chu Wanning’s heart stops. It’s not exactly the most elegant come-on, but her crassness is almost endearing and her breasts are pressing against Chu Wanning’s arm, making her breathless with want. This is insane, she thinks. You just met this woman. You cannot seriously be considering this, she tells herself sternly.
Mo Ran nips gently at her earlobe.
"Yes," Chu Wanning breathes immediately. "Yes, yes, do it, right now."
Mo Ran inhales sharply. “Right now? You can’t wait?” she slides a hand up Chu Wanning’s thigh underneath her skirt which had hiked up when she sat down.
Chu Wanning feels like she’s on fire. She’s surely blushing furiously based on the heat in her cheeks. She looks down. “Don’t tease me. I didn’t mean…”
Mo Ran kisses her sweetly on the cheek. She whispers into her ear, “I’m not teasing. I was gonna take you home but if you really can’t wait…” She tilts her head towards the bathrooms which currently have no line.
Shameless! Unhygienic! Chu Wanning would never!
As if sensing her imminent refusal, Mo Ran strokes her hand just a touch higher up Chu Wanning’s inner thigh and swipes her thumb back and forth along it. “I do live quite far away. It would be a shame to have to wait so long for someone so beautiful. Look around, barely anybody’s here, I bet I can make you come before anyone even notices we’re in there.”
Taxian-jun had never called her beautiful. It’s probably just a cheesy pickup line, but Chu Wanning is humiliated to find it’s working on her.
She doesn’t do this. She would never do this.
Mo Ran kisses her neck, sucking on it gently.
Shit.
“Okay,” Chu Wanning gasps, “Okay, yes, do it.”
A wicked grin spreads across the woman’s face. She slides her hand out from under Chu Wanning’s skirt and casually takes her hand, pulling her gently to follow.
Her hand is larger than Chu Wanning’s but so soft in comparison to her own rough calluses from her engineering lab. Her nails are filed low and well-maintained, in comparison to Chu Wanning’s bitten-rough and uneven counterparts. It makes Chu Wanning feel self-conscious, wondering what such a beautiful woman could see in her awkward conversation, her pinched face, her too-thin form and barely-visible breasts. She’s younger, too, she thinks; she can’t be a day over 23.
Chu Wanning had just celebrated her 32nd birthday. Oh god.
But before she can properly panic about that, Mo Ran has pulled her into one of the two restrooms, led her to the stall in the back, and locked the door behind them. She shoves Chu Wanning’s back against the wall of the stall and kisses her breathless.
“Fuck, you’re hot,” Mo Ran breathes against her lips after pulling back. She presses a knee in between Chu Wanning’s legs and grinds her thigh filthily against her, making her cry out into the renewed kiss.
“Shhh,” Mo Ran murmurs, pulling back again but keeping up the pressure from her knee. “I don’t want anyone coming in to hear you. Be good for me, baby.”
Chu Wanning nods frantically, and when Mo Ran bends her head down to suck a bruise into her neck, she slams a hand against her own mouth and moans into her fingers. It’s still louder than she’s comfortable with. If anyone’s in any of the other stalls they know exactly what they're doing. She blushes furiously, curling in on herself in shame.
“How about I keep your mouth occupied?” Mo Ran asks with another wicked grin.
Chu Wanning nods quickly, not knowing what she means but horrified at the thought of being overheard. She hesitantly brings her hand down, wondering if it would be okay if she touched Mo Ran’s thick pretty hair but unsure how to ask.
Mo Ran, still grinding steadily into her, tilts Chu Wanning’s head back and gently presses her lips open. She slides two fingers right into her mouth without warning, causing Chu Wanning to gasp and glare at her.
“Do you want me to stop? Nobody will hear you this way,” Mo Ran defends, bringing up her other hand to gently squeeze Chu Wanning’s ass and pull her closer into her, fully slotting one thigh between hers and increasing the pressure.
Chu Wanning shakes her head as she moans shakily again, definitely quieter this time. These constant sounds are humiliating; she never had problems suppressing them with Taxian-jun, if anything they had the opposite problem with him complaining that she was too quiet in bed. But with Mo Ran’s fingers sliding back and forth in her mouth, barely going in at all but just keeping her so full, she doesn’t have to talk; she doesn’t have to worry about being too loud or not sounding sexy; she just needs to lean her head back and let Mo Ran take her.
“Good girl,” Mo Ran murmurs reverently. “Just like that. I’ve got you babe.”
Chu Wanning shudders, legs falling open around Mo Ran’s thigh. “Mmmmh,” she can’t help but let out through Mo Ran’s fingers. Mo Ran is still grinding steadily into her and it feels so good, she instinctively presses back into her leg in time with her movements. Every push of Mo Ran’s thigh is timed with a thrust of three fingers now (when had she put the third one in?) deeper into her throat, almost making her choke. Fuck. She needs to stop before she comes apart in the arms of a complete stranger. Is Mo Ran even getting anything out of this? Shouldn’t Chu Wanning be reciprocating somehow?
But her worries are more distant than usual, no space for anything but heat and pleasure with Mo Ran crowding her up against the stall and fucking her mouth until she’s drooling over her fingers. Chu Wanning feels like she’s going to shake apart when the shock of the bathroom door creaking open and someone stepping through pulls her, icy-cold, back into reality.
Two people enter the bathroom, chatting amicably, making Chu Wanning freeze in terror. But as they enter separate stalls, Mo Ran doesn’t stop; her pupils are blown wide and a gleeful smirk spreads across her face as she redoubles her pace and reaches her free hand up under Chu Wanning’s blouse to palm at her breasts, panting.
Shit. Shit. Chu Wanning glares at Mo Ran, trying to signal her to slow down until they’re alone again, but her body is definitely not getting the message that they need to be quiet and when Mo Ran thumbs at her nipple and pinches it gently she can’t help but let out a broken moan through the fingers in her mouth.
The chatting near them stops immediately.
But Mo Ran, the brat, doesn’t even slow down. She’s grinding into Chu Wanning so hard now that she’s rhythmically shoving her into the wall with a damning thump, thump, thump, that’s in time with the press of her fingers on Chu Wanning’s tongue and the slow circles of her other hand around her nipple. It’s all so much.
“Ahh—nngh—mmph—" Chu Wanning tries to tell her to stop, but trying to say anything was a mistake. She sounds totally debauched, filled to the brim, like her mouth is around a cock and not just fingers, and that thought has her moaning again but shit, Mo Ran is taking her fingers out and there’s nothing to muffle Chu Wanning’s broken little sounds anymore and anyone could hear them but the thought isn’t enough to make Chu Wanning stop. She’s moaning louder than she ever has, thinking about them knowing what Mo Ran is doing to her in here.
It must be affecting Mo Ran, too, because her eyes are a little wild.
“God, you’re such a little slut, aren’t you?” The word is less an insult than a benediction with how reverently she whispers it in Chu Wanning’s ear. “You don’t even care that you’re being overheard. You like it. You want everyone in here to hear you get fucked.”
Chu Wanning whimpers. “I—no, I—"
“Shh, it’s okay, you don’t have to hide it,” Mo Ran says, speeding up. “You’re close, aren’t you? So am I. Fuck.”
And she doesn’t know how Mo Ran knew but she really is. Heat is rolling through her and she’s shivering with every one of Mo Ran’s thrusts. She’s barely even touched her and little ahh, ahh, ahhs are spilling from her lips without her fingers to block them. She feels herself tightening up around nothing, feeling achingly empty but so hot it doesn’t matter; the heat spreading through her whole body; her toes starting to curl; she’s close, so close—
Bang bang bang. “Hey!”
It’s like a bucket of ice water is poured over her head. Chu Wanning jolts back into reality as the manager yells at them to cut it out or they’ll call security.
Mo Ran looks devastated. Humiliated, Chu Wanning quickly pulls away from her and starts fixing her clothes. She needs to get out of there as soon as possible.
She stalks out of the bathroom, blushing harder than she ever has in her life, with Mo Ran scrambling after her. She has to glare fixedly ahead at nothing and no one; she can’t look at Mo Ran, or at anyone in the building for that matter. She’s sure they’re all staring; the walls of the bathroom aren’t exactly thick and clearly at least a few people know what they were up to as some giggles ring out humiliatingly until Chu Wanning makes it to the door.
She slams the door behind her, forgetting that Mo Ran is right behind her. Oops. She slammed the door right in her face, didn’t she?
Mo Ran is undeterred, rushing out and grabbing her hand. “Hey, are you okay? Shit, I’m sorry about that. I got totally carried away. I swear, I’ve never done anything like that before. You’re just so…” She lets out a little breathless chuckle. “Well. Wanna come back to my place?”
Chu Wanning can’t help but scowl, still so embarrassed. “If you’re trying to embarrass me again…”
“I’m not. I wasn’t earlier. I mean it.” She clutches Chu Wanning’s hand in both of her own and pulls her close. She bends down to whisper in her ear. “You were so perfect in there, so sweet and good for me.” She plants a kiss to the sensitive spot behind Chu Wanning’s ear. “Come on, baby.” She nibbles her earlobe and pulls her even closer, entirely flush against her. She's hard and hot against Chu Wanning's thigh.
Chu Wanning shivers. She’s still weak in the knees from earlier. Would it really be that bad to go home with this stranger? Mo Ran can’t possibly be attracted to her for real, but she clearly wants to let off some steam and Chu Wanning…Chu Wanning really wants to be good for her again.
She nods. “Okay. If you want to.”
Mo Ran beams. She darts in to press a quick chaste kiss to Chu Wanning’s lips. “You have no idea how much I want to. Come on, my bike’s over here.” She still hasn’t let go of Chu Wanning’s hand and takes advantage of their grip to pull her across the street. She leads her to a sparkling motorcycle and hops onto it.
“Here, put your hands on my waist,” she says, holding out her hand to help Chu Wanning up behind her.
Chu Wanning hesitantly places her hands lightly on either side of Mo Ran’s waist.
Mo Ran laughs. “You’re gonna fall off if you don’t hold on a little tighter,” she says, the curve of her smile just visible where she tilts her head back slightly. “I don’t want you getting hurt.” She pulls Chu Wanning’s hands so that they’re wrapped fully around her waist and she’s pressed up against Mo Ran’s back. “Hold on tight, okay? Don’t let go.”
“I won’t.” She can feel every breath Mo Ran takes. She tries not to use this as an opportunity to feel up the younger woman, but it’s hard not to notice how solid her abs feel underneath her palms. Can Mo Ran hear her breath coming faster?
But when Mo Ran kicks her engine into gear, all Chu Wanning’s anxieties are drowned in its roar. She grips on tight around Mo Ran’s waist in her surprise. Soon she’s distracted by the wind rushing through her hair, the city lights blurring into a watercolor smear around them, and the roaring rumble of the bike under her. She starts laughing quietly at this whole, impossible night, somehow still so fun despite everything. She has never been the kind of person to have adventures like this, or connect with a total stranger so quickly, but here she is, yanked out of her comfort zone by this beautiful girl.
She’s almost drunk with giddiness at the feeling. She feels like she could do anything. In a wildly daring move, she slides her hands down to where Mo Ran’s tank top is riding up her torso and wraps her hands around Mo Ran’s bare stomach. She's very muscled, maybe as strong as Taxian-jun. She could hold Chu Wanning down easily if she wanted to. The thought thrills her terrifyingly. She feels Mo Ran gasp and hastily returns her hands to safer grounds, blushing. Was that okay?
Mo Ran doesn't actually live that far away like she’d said earlier. It’s less than fifteen minutes until she’s pulling up to a dingy apartment building in a neighborhood Chu Wanning has never visited before. Chu Wanning glares at her but can’t muster any real heat about her lying earlier. She pretends not to see it, smiling, and kisses her, long and sweet, right out in the street, before leading a stunned-silent Chu Wanning up to her unit.
“Well,” she asks, “are you coming in?”
Chu Wanning nods, and follows her in.