Huaisang doesn't understand how Xichen could think he was happy even with those things he was still not free. He liked luxury and fine things but he'd never wanted to be a bird in a guilded cage -- now he felt a little guilty for every bird he had ever locked away. He wonders, if it's true, though, that Mingjue could believe that he could be happy in this situation, that he really was so shallow and weak?
Huaisang doesn't manage to talk, though, not with the other holding him by his throat and his air still thin as he tries to breathe, tries to loosen Xichen's fingers. In truth, Huaisang had tried to be honest for a long time but it never work and the other's manipulative words about how he was just pretending had led him to just stop arguing out loud and had let the resentment grow in silence instead with a mask put on his face -- because masks were his forte. Except now, he couldn't mask his fear as the ribbon is pulled off of Xichen and then wraps itself around his neck.
When the other lets go of his neck his fingers go to it, feeling the ache from the force the other had used but then realizing there is no tie on the ribbon, no way for him to pull it off and a quiet sound of panic leaves him as he dares to look up at Xichen.
He doesn't try to talk his way out of this. Isn't this what he has been waiting for? The guise and the manipulations to fall to the wayside? Still, he finds himself nearly immobile and silenced in the face of the other's rage. He pulls at the ribbon again, it's desperate and illogical but he wants it off. He doesn't need a reminder that he's a belonging.
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Huaisang doesn't manage to talk, though, not with the other holding him by his throat and his air still thin as he tries to breathe, tries to loosen Xichen's fingers. In truth, Huaisang had tried to be honest for a long time but it never work and the other's manipulative words about how he was just pretending had led him to just stop arguing out loud and had let the resentment grow in silence instead with a mask put on his face -- because masks were his forte. Except now, he couldn't mask his fear as the ribbon is pulled off of Xichen and then wraps itself around his neck.
When the other lets go of his neck his fingers go to it, feeling the ache from the force the other had used but then realizing there is no tie on the ribbon, no way for him to pull it off and a quiet sound of panic leaves him as he dares to look up at Xichen.
He doesn't try to talk his way out of this. Isn't this what he has been waiting for? The guise and the manipulations to fall to the wayside? Still, he finds himself nearly immobile and silenced in the face of the other's rage. He pulls at the ribbon again, it's desperate and illogical but he wants it off. He doesn't need a reminder that he's a belonging.