Jian Lin flinched, fiddling with his fingers. He had, quite frankly, forgotten to talk to his family about Xi Yang. Because he hadn’t informed them about the whole copying process, his time had been occupied by sleeping and watching livestreams together with Xi Yang.

“He’s, uhm…” It wasn’t that he was worried about them having an issue with Xi Yang’s gender, he just wasn’t sure how they’d react to him having a partner at all. “He’s my partner in Haven and the neighbor and… my boyfriend?”

The last part came out as a sheepish question.

Jian Su clapped her hands together in delight, giving her approval of their relationship. “Well! Dear son-in-law, what’s your name? I am Jian Su, but feel free to call me Auntie. This is Anthony, my husband, and this here is my father.”

“Call me Uncle.” Approved.

“Call me Grandfather, or Grandpa!” Likewise, approved.

Why in the world would they have any issues?!

Grandpa Jian had long told his daughter and Anthony about that neighbor. They were also watching the advertisements and had seen various clips of the two of them playing together.

How would Jian Lin find a better partner than one who was so sincere to him?!

“I… I’m Xi Yang”, the young man finally managed to introduce himself, a tiny bit overwhelmed by the enthusiasm he was shown. He was far from being Jian Lin’s husband but good to know that they approved of that idea…?

“Now, I imagine it might be a bit awkward, but as you can guess, our little Lin isn’t the most talkative sort. Could you tell us a bit? How did you two become friends? Since when have you been dating? You’re still playing together, I assume?”

The uncomfortable family talks were unavoidable, but they were less uncomfortable since the group was so welcoming.

Xi Yang directly told them whatever they wanted to know, relieved that they were less prying into the details of their relationship development than how the two of them spent time together. He even showed them about their own ship, earning a good bit of laughter from Jian Su.

Jian Lin let him talk, relieved that he didn’t have to. Hearing everything from Xi Yang’s perspective was interesting, anyway.

About an hour later, Grandfather Jian stood up. “It’s time for us to leave. The two of them are taking their lunch break and we shouldn’t interrupt.”

Anthony nodded in agreement. “Indeed. It’s rude to take up the time of a new couple.”

Another nod from Jian Su. “Yes, as parents, we should know better than to disturb our son.”

The long line of people - family plus bodyguards - said their goodbyes to walk out of the door, leaving behind a drained Jian Lin and sighing Xi Yang.

Obviously he knew what they were talking about, but…

Jian Lin and him hadn’t even kissed. Originally, Xi Yang had planned to wait until Jian Lin made a move, but Jian Lin simply didn’t seem to think of such a thing. At this point, Xi Yang was wondering if Jian Lin didn’t like physical affection.

If that was the case, then… then…

Well, he’d endure. He wasn’t going to break up with Jian Lin over that.

But anyway, this needed a clarification.

Snuggling himself against Jian Lin’s shoulder, Xi Yang whined. “Jiaaaaan Liiiiin.”

“Mmh?”

The blonde man tilted his head, blinking confusedly at being called.

Stiff with surprise, he noticed Xi Yang leaning in much closer. A rough pair of lips pressed against his, lingering for a second before retreating a bit. Xi Yang stopped, their noses still almost touching, and blinked, observing Jian Lin.

The man’s face was starting to turn red, heartbeat almost audibly thumping. It was as if steam was about to come out from his ears.

“...”

“Is that okay?”, Xi Yang prodded.

Jian Lin gave a stiff nod, eyes wandering away. The reaction was so adorable that Xi Yang had a hard time not smooching him all over. It was an utterly lovely expression, especially on the otherwise pokerfaced Jian Lin!

“I’m asking because I’m not sure if you’re fine with this?” Xi Yang ended up smiling lopsidedly. “I know there’s people who don’t like physical contact like this, that’s why…”

“Oh.” Jian Lin’s brain needed several seconds to boot up again. It was running slowly like an old Windows XP software. “No, that’s… I just… wasn’t thinking about it.”

And that really was the truth. His main desire was sticking to Xi Yang. He hadn’t considered that, as a boyfriend, he could have attempted kissing him. It wasn’t a thought that occupied his mind in general, so he had forgotten.

Compared to other people, he… probably really did have a low sex drive?

Jian Lin pulled a face. “...I think I’d appreciate it if you took control of that. In general.”

“Me?” Xi Yang leaned back, stupefied. So far, his boyfriends had been the very dominant type, leaving him crushed in their wake. But… being in control, didn’t sound bad, actually. “Alright. But you have to tell me if I do something you don’t like or aren’t ready for yet. I’m probably quite the pervert compared to you.”

Jian Lin stiffly nodded, eyelashes covering his eyes. The topic was incredibly embarrassing for him.

Now that he thought about it, even Haven had finally finished their update on that front.

After the whole beta testing time, the company had settled on how to deal with the issue of consent and physical contact.

The system was actually quite simple and cut into two parts.

Number one, it was always impossible to inappropriately touch someone who was in any sort of intoxicated or otherwise unclear state. A state of starving, of being poisoned, drunk, unconscious… Any abnormal state would automatically set up the enforced restriction again.

Number two, you could only touch your spouse. You could only marry after being in the game for a year and being friends with the other character for over half a year, so that was already a troublesome status to reach. Let alone the materials needed for a marriage.

Even then, the moment your partner showed any signs of resistance - the tiniest struggle would be registered - you’d be thrown right off. The same went for any sort of negative reaction that the capsule could register.

...Sexual contact was also only permitted inside for now, and only between two people. That had left some people complaining, but Haven didn’t allow polygamy for the moment.

Back then, when he had been asked if he wanted to participate in the beta test, Jian Lin had rejected it. Now… he was kind of doing his very own beta test in reality.

“I’m bad with this”, he whispered under his breath, reaching forward to hook a finger around Xi Yang’s. “But don’t misunderstand me.”

“I won’t”, Xi Yang promised, heart bubbling over with love. How could his boyfriend be so cute and handsome at the same time? He was going to make sure that Jian Lin never felt uncomfortable with him.

Experimentally, he gave another peck on Jian Lin’s lips, earning a considerably reddened colour.

Jian Lin kept on thinking he should somehow respond, but breathing was taking up his full brain capacity. Helpless, he just leaned a bit forward to rub the tips of their noses together.

“Do I have to meet your parents?”

“Not now.” Xi Yang was quick to calm his boyfriend down. “I’ve told them about you and they’re very happy, but they can be a bit overwhelming. It’s fine to do it in the future, maybe during dinner.”

Jian Lin nodded, agreeing to the idea.

Well - Xi Yang meant a normal dinner.

Jian Lin was currently considering asking his mother for one of the cabins on the newly opened five star restaurant, the one on top of a sky tower with the nice view, where you could only enter on reservation…

He was fully intent on leaving behind a good first impression on Xi Yang’s parents.

.....With that settled, they returned back into the game.

As regular visitors of the castle on the mountain, Ice and Bloody went to say hi when Huntsman was offline anyway. Not only was the Ice Emperor a copy of Ice, he was also keeping watch over Ice’s mount - the beast he had decided on before, but which he currently had no time taking care of yet.

After talking to Ithiel, they made their way over.