The Tentacle-Tailed Top Is Crawling Onto the Deck Again, Darkly

Contains tentacles. Avoid if that's not your thing.

[Power-wielding, dashing, tanned, cool straight-guy shou x sickly, pale, green-tea, split-piece gong with tentacles]

For three generations, Zhang Yanjing's family had been fishermen. His father and grandfather were both dark-skinned and burly, with muscles all over. Zhang Yanjing had some definition, but he had thrown punches, never cast a net.

He was born to hold a pen, but the family fishing business was in decline, so his grandfather yelled him back home to inherit and revive it.

On his first trip out to sea, he hauled up an octopus in his net.

On his second trip out to sea, he hauled up only an octopus in his net.

By his nth trip, the octopus was already crawling onto the deck before he had even cast his net.

**

Zhang Yanjing dreamed that deep-sea fish were swimming back and forth outside his bedroom's tightly shut windows. When he turned around, writhing octopus tentacles filled the room, reaching for him from every direction.

Every tentacle had a mind of its own.

They wrapped around his feet, coiled around his waist, locked around his neck, tangled in his hair, slipped beneath his collar, and undid his belt...

As Zhang Yanjing struggled, he heard a murmur like a dreamlike whisper: "Cuddle..."

**

A newcomer joined the fishing fleet. He had pale skin and white hair. He looked frail, but could take on a hundred men at once, and people said he'd once caught a fish weighing over a hundred jin. Everyone called him Xiao Bai.

On their first trip out to sea, Zhang Yanjing worried he might not be used to it and specially brought him motion sickness pills.

The moment their fingers touched, Zhang Yanjing imagined the tentacles filling the room, clamoring to tear him apart and devour him.

Yet the person in front of him said in a wounded voice, "How could I ever hurt you?"

**

Content warnings:

1. On the surface, the gong is a weepy, green-tea puppy. In reality, he's very, very messed up. He's the kind to get so jealous that he chops himself up.

2. The shou's power lets him see through people's thoughts and disguises when he touches them.

3. The shou is straight, and the gong turns him gay.

4. Probably a handsome shou and a cute gong.

My next upcoming story is The Fortune-Teller Meets a Ghost Who Understands Him. Please add it to your reading lists!

Blurb:

Energetic con artist shou x righteous, secretly passionate gong

-

Li Wang is a fortune-teller who cons people at the entrance to a tourist attraction, scamming as many as he can.

One foggy night, he sleepily patted a man in a suit on the shoulder. "Sir, your complexion is rosy. You're destined for great wealth and prosperity. Would you like a fortune told?"

The man in the suit slowly turned to look at him.

One little tap was all it took. That turn of his head took half a lifetime.

He learned firsthand what it felt like to be haunted by a ghost.

-

He was a ghost, and someone had stopped him on his way to the reincarnation bridge.

Every day, he followed this person around. At night, he lay on top of him and sucked out his yang energy. By day, he stayed on his heels as the fortune-teller's supervisor.

-

After being haunted by the ghost, whenever Li Wang made up a fortune, the ghost would stand behind him and lash him with a belt.

He'd yelp in pain and try to hit back, but his punches only struck empty air, passing right through the ghost's body.

He quit, refusing to eat or drink. The ghost, unable to get any yang energy, was about to fade away too.

Finally, the ghost said, "I'll help you."

-

Every night, a dark lump sat on top of Li Wang on the narrow single bed in his rental room.

Unable to breathe beneath the weight, he yelled:

"Where are you putting your hands?! Get them out of my clothes!"

Theme: Stay true to your original intentions and persevere in what you love