Don't Move, Let Me Measure Your Waist

Dom-leaning, dark-themed anthology ① The Seven-Year Itch / Painful Romance / Nonhuman Xu Dao, Have you ever imagined what life would be like afterward if you could have stayed that day? A bad-tempered top trying hard to keep it in check × A quiet, taciturn, cold bottom suffering from the seven-year itch ② Huang Xiaoyu is a timid, gloomy, light-avoiding, pathologically jealous and creepy man who has a secret crush on the handsome husband in the same-sex couple next door. They are a young, successful married couple. As far as he knows, the husband owns a publicly traded company, while his beautiful wife is a manager under him. The husband is mature, charming, tall, and easygoing. The wife is willful, arrogant, suspicious, and spoiled. What a mismatched pair, Huang Xiaoyu thinks darkly as he watches their lives with narrowed eyes. Whenever the wife next door flies into a rage over some trivial thing, hits her husband, and smashes things with a clatter, Huang Xiaoyu secretly hopes they will get divorced. But every time, the husband is the first to give in and apologize, holding his wife as he comforts her. Before long, the wife's high and low moans drift from the apartment next door. Listening through the wall, Huang Xiaoyu is so jealous he could go mad. The next morning, before leaving, the husband still gives his wife a lingering, tender good-morning kiss. Their love is as strong as ever. Until one day, after the wife picks a fight with her husband over nothing, Huang Xiaoyu steps outside and sees the husband, kicked out and left alone, leaning against the wall and smoking, a handprint on his face. But ever since that day's little test, Huang Xiaoyu has discovered that some terrifying, monstrous thing seems to have latched onto him. ③ Sister-in-law (Li Wang's perspective, sister-in-law is the top) Li Wang's older brother brings a man home and tells Li Wang that this is his sister-in-law, and that the three of them will be living together from now on. After the man moves in, Li Wang is constantly annoyed by the noises coming from next door. He thinks his new sister-in-law is a wanton man who keeps doing intimate things with his brother in public as if no one else is around. They are so lovey-dovey they might as well be conjoined twins. It's sickening. But Li Wang knows exactly what kind of person his brother is, so he coldly waits for the day his new sister-in-law gets tossed aside once his brother is bored of him. It won't take more than three months. Then, one day in the third month, Li Wang comes home for summer vacation and sees his sister-in-law curled up on the sofa, covered in kiss marks and smoking. He doesn't even raise an eyebrow. A tired, bewitching smile plays on that languid, alluring face as he says, "Your brother bought me for three thousand yuan, but now he says he's tired of playing with me and doesn't want me anymore." He flicks away his ash, turns his head, and asks Li Wang in a slurred, suggestive voice, "Do you want to take over?" Li Wang curses him inwardly, condemning himself even as he does, but still picks up the clothes scattered across the living room. He hears his own calm voice say, "Sure." When desire is trapped in the cracks, the moment it finds an opening, it begins to grow wildly. ④ Snake-demon top, widowed father raising a child × A cultivator who seems ethereal and detached but is truly vengeful and never forgets a slight (one reversal, the top gives birth, the bottom splits into two) Before Qu Xue became a wandering single father, he had crossed two men. The first man was someone he found by the roadside. Taken by his good looks, unhurried nature, and refined air, Qu Xue brought him home to be his wife. He had no intention of getting involved with the second man. Starving in the middle of the night, he climbed over the wall and stole a roast chicken, but failed to escape. After being locked up, he was scrutinized with a gloomy gaze for a long while, then made into the man's wife. The first man was gentle and tender. He destroyed the three snake eggs they had conceived together, then nearly cut Qu Xue open to seize his core and take his life with a smile. The second man was gloomy and unpredictable. He cured Qu Xue's old ailments with a cold expression, then gave birth to a half-demon child for him. A hundred years later, Qu Xue is a widower raising a child, with the second man in his heart, when the first man comes looking for him. ⑤ Unlucky intersex top × bottom who won't leave him alone Something seems off about the place I rented. ⑥ Half-blood, health-conscious incubus top × death knight bottom The top is a half-blood incubus; the bottom has one-quarter giant blood. ⑦ Wicked beta top × alpha bottom who endures humiliation Post-apocalyptic ABO, top over bottom Content warnings: #Short story collection #Old tropes, clichéd, rambling prose #Written to relieve stress. I can't promise every part will be lighthearted, so read with care. #Thanks to everyone who clicked in, bookmarked, or read this. Thank you, truly. Theme: Don't let time quietly erase the love you once had for the people around you.