Plucking the Stars [ABO]

Ye Cheng is a fine actor. Tall and handsome, with an overwhelming aura of masculinity, he has played classic roles on the big screen that fulfill almost every OB's ideal type.

Offscreen, he wears gold-rimmed, half-frame glasses with plain lenses and buttons his white shirt all the way to the collar. He's the picture of abstinence, but in bed he's like someone from the Hehuan Sect. As long as an unattached, delicious little O is available, he rarely turns one down. Every year, his romantic rumors crash several servers.

Lately, the Best Actor has been irritable.

He hasn't met an O whose pheromones suit his taste in three months, and the literary film he's just taken on demands that he be in the right state of mind.

In the film, a blind veteran encounters the voice of heaven. The oppressive, somber story is filled with desire, surrender, and the collision of body and soul in a tale of redemption. The director demands a great deal from that collision: the voice of heaven must be clear, pure, and seductive, while Ye Cheng must reach a despairing climax to its sound.

After countless NGs, the Best Actor lights a cigarette.

His chronic insomnia has long since robbed him of the function that alphas pride themselves on. No matter how many adult films he watches, pretending is still pretending.

The director has no choice but to invite the voice actor who plays the "voice of heaven" to the set. He's an obscure online voice actor, with no idea how to work a room. But the moment he starts delivering his lines, he sounds like a glass of iced green plum tea on a summer day: cool, sweet, and irresistibly alluring.

Ye Cheng feels himself stiffen beneath the waist. For the first time, he learns what it means to be "hard enough to hurt." As a result, the restrained, teasing close-up in slow motion accidentally becomes late-night viewing for countless OBs.

That night, Ye Cheng sleeps well for the first time, too.

Before long, the Best Actor crashes another Weibo server.

#YeChengSleepsWithAnObscureOnlineVoiceActor???

Netizen 1: No way, right? Those two circles crossing over is pure fantasy!

Netizen 2: Sorry, I wandered into the wrong circle. The so-called obscure voice actor you're digging into seems to be the genius of our mechanical engineering department.

Netizen 3: Doesn't his breathy voice sound a lot like that ASMR repair genius on that video site?

In the dim bedroom, the Best Actor scrolls through the comments and lights another cigarette.

His defined, bare upper body, enough to set every O's blood racing, is still damp with cool water.

With his person in his arms and his sleep restored, the Best Actor has found a new source of melancholy.

He wants to pluck that lonely star from the sky and tuck it into his empty, desolate embrace.

Bonus Scene 1:

Ye Cheng never imagined that a Best Actor like him would one day resort to the clumsy trick of faking an NG to pursue someone.

Blocking Luo Xingzhou, who has rushed over to save the scene, in the break room, he takes off his glasses and rubs his brow. "That part just now... could you read it one more time?"

Luo Xingzhou looks up, unsure what he's trying to do. The man is standing very close, his features deep and striking, quite unlike the effortlessly composed man he usually plays onscreen.

"Your heart's beating a little fast."

"Don't mind it." Ye Cheng grips his wrist. "Just read your lines."

Luo Xingzhou thinks it over and picks what he considers the best line to show his displeasure, though it's actually the most provocative one: "It hurts. Get out."

Ye Cheng's back goes rigid at once.

After a long pause, he says quietly, "You can't just say that line whenever you want."

"Then... it's cold outside." Luo Xingzhou tilts his head. "Do you want to come in?"

Ye Cheng: "…"

Bonus Scene 2:

The last dose of specially formulated suppressant is gone, and his heat can no longer be held back.

When Ye Cheng gets a call and rushes home, Luo Xingzhou is already wrapped in his blanket, leaving only his red-rimmed eyes exposed.

"...You're back." His voice is softer than usual, like honey stirred into iced tea. "I want to borrow you for a while."

My human suppressant.

Ye Cheng closes his eyes and swallows.

"...No."

"Why?"

"Because you're not thinking clearly right now."

"I'm perfectly clearheaded." Luo Xingzhou thinks for a moment, then adds, "And I've done desensitization training. I won't cross the line."

Ye Cheng: "…"

He straightens up, takes off his gold-rimmed glasses, and looks fierce in the backlight.

"Luo Xingzhou."

"Hm?"

"Are you trying to kill me?"

Bonus Scene 3: Luo Xingzhou livestreams for a little while every night. This time, he's repairing a handmade watch that's over two hundred years old. He soon becomes absorbed in his work. Amid the steady sounds of dismantling, he occasionally murmurs an explanation.

Like ASMR on a midnight radio show, every word is soft.

"...Remove the strap, degrease it." "The dial and movement are disassembled. Now, an ultrasonic cleaning."

Ye Cheng silently wraps an arm around his waist and cuts off the livestream. "I think my body is malfunctioning, too."

Luo Xingzhou frowns. "I only know how to repair machinery. I don't know how to fix a body."

Ye Cheng buries his face in the crook of his neck and chuckles softly. "No, you do... Just don't talk during the livestream."

"?"

"Because when you don't talk, this thing doesn't go out of control."

Tips:

1. A fake playboy who's genuinely purehearted and insomniac Best Actor gong x fake obscure sleep-aid voice actor, actually an Asperger's mechanical engineering genius shou

2. Mutual redemption, slightly more from the gong's perspective. Extreme gong- or shou-centric readers, please understand.

3. There is a secondary couple, mostly there to lend a hand.

4. More to be added.

Theme: Creating a better life together.