What Do I Do After I Get My Archrival to Fall for Me?

[Blurb]

Pei Xi is the only son of a wealthy family. His life should have gone smoothly, but then he met Qiao Xuchen, his sworn rival.

One day, he and Qiao Xuchen transmigrated into a book, landing in a story where the villain brutally tormented the protagonist from beginning to end.

Standing before the mirror, Pei Xi looked at the face identical to his own and gave a wicked smile.

Since he'd become the villain, Qiao Xuchen must be the protagonist.

After all, Pei Xi had another identity: the author!

But even with the System holding him in check, Qiao Xuchen relied on the protagonist's immortality and his complete ignorance of the plot to pull off one outrageous stunt after another.

After being set up for the Nth time, Pei Xi finally lost patience and used his author privileges to tailor the plot for Qiao Xuchen.

A private room at a bar.

Qiao Xuchen pinned Pei Xi beneath him. "I didn't know you'd prepared a whole bed full of toys."

Pei Xi gritted his teeth. "It wasn't me."

The errand-running NPC had gone rogue. Not only had they switched the knockout drug for an aphrodisiac and made them both take half, they'd brought all this stuff, too!

"Is that so?" Qiao Xuchen clearly didn't believe him.

In desperation, Pei Xi called for the support System.

System: [Sorry, the plot can't be changed while it's in progress.]

Pei Xi: What the hell?!

Later, on a bright and sunny afternoon, Qiao Xuchen said something absolutely outrageous: "Pei Xi, are you secretly in love with me?"

Pei Xi: "..."

He gazed at Qiao Xuchen with "tender affection." "What if I am?"

Qiao Xuchen recoiled as if he'd seen a ghost.

Pei Xi smiled "tenderly." He'd found a way.

From then on, Pei Xi did his best to play the part of a devoted secret admirer.

He swooped in from the sky after Qiao Xuchen was kidnapped, set his phone password to Qiao Xuchen's birthday, and risked his life to save him in a crisis...

At last, Qiao Xuchen was thoroughly convinced.

One afternoon, Pei Xi spotted Qiao Xuchen confronting his family's private chef, a young man who'd graduated from college only recently, at the company reception desk.

Curious, he hid nearby and eavesdropped.

Qiao Xuchen said scornfully, "Stop shamelessly hanging around here from now on."

The young man gave him a contemptuous look. "Who are you? What business is it of yours whether I come here or not?"

Qiao Xuchen snorted. "It's absolutely my business. I'm the boss's husband."

Pei Xi: ?

Why had nobody informed him, the boss?

[Cold, calculating, secretly passionate top who acts aloof in public x eccentric, dramatic, hot-tempered bottom]

P.S.

A comedy-leaning story. Don't take some of the scenes too seriously.

The top only drops his aloof facade in front of the bottom.

Both are each other's first and only, 1v1. They're too busy tripping each other up to notice that they only have eyes for each other.

At first, they can't stand each other and are pure rivals.

Childhood friends who have known each other for twenty years, and occasionally act like elementary schoolers.

Author's notes will occasionally include bonus skits.

Focused on the couple, with no secondary pairing.

Not abandoned! Not abandoned! Not abandoned!

No swapping, no reversing, no reader-insert fantasies.

[Chuunibyou college-student human bottom x lynx demon-beast top disguised as a cat]

[Blurb]

Jiang Qingshi is an ordinary senior at an ordinary university, with extraordinary good looks and an extreme devotion to cats.

Sadly, cats have never liked him, from childhood to adulthood.

But this year! He has a place of his own, and he's going to force a little cat to love him!

"Sorry, sir. Another customer bought the cat for five times the price."

Jiang Qingshi's heart shattered on the spot, and he ran out of the pet shop in tears.

Boom! Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Jiang Qingshi spotted a little bundle of something slowly moving beneath a tree by the roadside.

A cat?!

He sprinted over and snatched the kitty away before a passerby could.

At last, he wasn't a catless savage anymore! Heh heh heh!

Back home, Jiang Qingshi held up the short-tailed "Maine Coon." "From now on, your name is Blazing Flame, Realm-Burning Storm Demon Lord!"

"Maine Coon": ...

First, he's a lynx. Second, he's a demon beast. And finally, his name is Xie Huaixu.

Unfortunately, Jiang Qingshi couldn't understand him and buried his face in the "Demon Lord's" belly, inhaling deeply.

Recently, Jiang Qingshi noticed that his "Maine Coon" was acting a little strange.

In just over a month, it had grown from a tiny bundle into a huge beast.

It had also developed a strange habit: watching him bathe.

But plenty of cats did that, so he thought nothing of it.

Before long, however, his life somehow began to turn bizarre.

Ugly fish-people with fish heads and human bodies? "Angels" with wings growing from their backs? A "Spider-Man" who spits webbing? A fantastical world overturning all common sense...

And...

Jiang Qingshi looked at the strange man lying beside him, 185 centimeters tall, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, with eight-pack abs and a stern face. "Who are you, bro?"

Where was his cat?!

Xie Huaixu glanced at Jiang Qingshi, then habitually rubbed his head against the hollow of his neck.

Jiang Qingshi was about to dodge when an ear that hadn't tucked itself away flicked past his eyes.

He froze. "Y-y-you're Blazing Flame, Realm-Burning Storm Demon Lord?"

Xie Huaixu: "Mm."

? This wasn't right!

Xie Huaixu instead pulled Jiang Qingshi into his arms and coaxed him gently. "It's exactly right."

Later, Xie Huaixu really did become the "Blazing Flame, Realm-Burning Storm Demon Lord."

Lying in the "Demon Lord's" arms, Jiang Qingshi nearly wept. "I'll never give a cat a ridiculous name again."

Xie Huaixu's expression darkened. "You want another cat?"

[Bonus skit]

One evening, Jiang Qingshi and Xie Huaixu were strolling through the park.

Coming toward them was a fluffy, long-haired Ragdoll cat and its evil owner.

Jiang Qingshi stopped in his tracks. Damn it! He recognized the cat he'd wanted from the moment he saw it!

The Ragdoll tilted its head and studied Jiang Qingshi with big eyes.

A man and a cat gazed at each other with "deep affection."

Xie Huaixu's expression grew darker by the second. To him, a lynx in his true form, this was his mate cheating right in front of him! Adultery!

Jiang Qingshi stroked the first cat ever to take a liking to him, moved to tears. Only after a long while did he realize Xie Huaixu had disappeared.

Suddenly, the Ragdoll tried desperately to hide in his arms. He turned around to find a lynx glaring fixedly at them, shifting into its spiny-backed dinosaur form.

Jiang Qingshi felt a chill in his heart and his backside clench.

Oh no.

P.S.

Both are each other's first and only, 1v1, happy ending.

Not abandoned, not abandoned, not abandoned.

No swapping, no reversing, no reader-insert fantasies.

Theme: Stay alert to danger and don't rely on luck.