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Laying low in Li Jin was easier said than done. Especially when everyone seemed to want to fight.
Unfortunately for the demons that stopped them, they’d never had an opponent like Cang Ji, especially a Cang Ji caught in the rain with a Jing Lin in robes too thin for the rain that pounded down around them, long soaked through, the white of them almost translucent. Looking back, Cang Ji couldn’t quite blame them for wanting to kidnap Jing Lin, except for the fact that it was Jing Lin they were after.
One of the demons got a lucky hit in, a dirty swing when Jing Lin was distracted and Cang Ji too far away to do anything. Right then, at any rate. Soon enough, the demon was swallowed down with the rest of his fellows, leaving only Cang Ji and Jing Lin standing in the downpour. Cang Ji felt sated, not even panting from the fight, at least until he caught sight of the trickle of blood coming down off the corner of Jing Lin’s lips. His pale complexion was nothing out of the ordinary, especially in this weather, but his eyes were more distant, even for him. In a flash, Cang Ji scooped him up into his arms and headed back to their rented room.
Jing Lin felt like nothing and everything in his arms, his weight negligible but his presence dominating Cang Ji’s senses; the familiar sense of his spiritual sea was fainter than usual, a soft pulse rather than the steady surge it had become recently, urging Cang Ji to move faster towards the inn as if he could race towards it.
Loathe to set him down even once they arrived, Cang Ji simply moved his hand to the back of Jing Lin’s neck, cradling his head upright as he passed a thread of spiritual power between them. It was still a curious thing to him, how quickly and easily it passed between them, vital like air shared in a kiss underwater. He felt the power settle and watched Jing Lin expectantly as he felt the blockage from the demon’s attack clear.
Sure enough, under his gaze Jing Lin tensed, then relaxed, coughing once over Cang Ji’s arm, the spill of blood less than Cang Ji expected but still bright across Jing Lin’s mouth as he sank back into Cang Ji’s hold, the delirious trust in it precious, and Cang Ji felt his chest tighten dangerously.
“Babe,” Cang Ji breathed, leaning in to kiss the corner of Jing Lin’s mouth, licking the blood there even as Jing Lin furrowed his brow, a move that twisted his face and lips out of a shape that was easy to kiss. Cang Ji didn’t particularly care and as he shifted to capture Jing Lin’s mouth fully, sent more of his energy into Jing Lin to bolster him further.
“That’s disgusting.” Jing Lin tried to squirm in his hold, but it was too late, Cang Ji’s arms were tight around him, moving towards the nearest wall as the bed was clear on the other side of the room and thus entirely too far to suit.
“Is not. It’s not as good as straight from you, but it’s still perfectly good,” Cang Ji retorted, setting Jing Lin down and moving in quickly to press him to the wall, not even waiting to see if Jing Lin could hold himself upright on his own, not once he caught sight of the way Jing Lin’s ears had started to flush, even his cheeks starting to pink with the rush of energy and desire between them. Cang Ji could feel his cock starting to stir, the sweep of desire through him becoming more and more familiar.
“I didn’t know you cared about such things.” Jing Lin’s tone was sharp and cold as always, if as faint as it had been at the start of their journey, but his neck was tilted to the side as he watched Cang Ji through an angled gaze. Cang Ji could have thought it entirely an observational pose, if he had been as charitable as Jing Lin was accusing him of.
Instead, he took the invitation, leaning in to kiss and bite his way up the column of Jing Lin’s neck, far too pale and unmarked, bereft of his attention for too long. He felt the huff of breath against his own neck as Jing Lin’s mouth opened on a silent gasp; Cang Ji gave in at that, the taste of blood spilling across his tongue tempered by the cool sense of Jing Lin’s power filling him as he swallowed, utterly taken in.
Jing Lin softened further in his arms as he lapped up the blood that welled up there, a growl shaking loose as he crowded Jing Lin, moving him a little too easily. He paused, pressing into the give of Jing Lin’s body against his, savoring the soft noise that brushed across his ears as it escaped Jing Lin’s mouth. The breaths that carried them were starting to come in pants, the crack in Jing Lin’s cold facade that Cang Ji dug into eagerly.
He fed more of his power into Jing Lin as he went back to kissing Jing Lin properly, a slide of lips softer than they had any right to be. He wanted to bite into the plush of Jing Lin’s lower lip, already a bright, ruddy shade that Cang Ji couldn’t help but stare at when they separated for air. Jing Lin was panting outright now, hands tight in Cang Ji’s robe as Cang Ji tried to discern whether it was the blood smeared across Jing Lin’s lips that gave them that shade or if he could simply nibble them to that fullness any time he wanted.
“We should do this more often,” he said instead, despite the fact that hardly a day had gone by since he’d made Jing Lin take responsibility for the new hunger that ravaged through him that he hadn’t kissed Jing Lin’s mouth swollen, hadn’t tugged him close, asking what else Jing Lin could teach him, offering suggestions of his own in return.
“Insatiable.” Jing Lin’s admonishment might’ve had more impact if Cang Ji hadn’t been staring at the way his hair spilled loose over his shoulders, in disarray from their rapid flight back, or the way that his tone was breathy, dreamy in a way that Cang Ji was starting to become familiar with, intriguing and treasured in a way he didn’t fully understand.
It wasn’t long before Cang Ji was distracted from his staring by the motion of Jing Lin’s hands clenching and flexing against him, small motions that Cang Ji wasn’t even sure he was aware of making. That, mixed with the way Jing Lin’s face was fully flushed now, his eyes wide and dark as he avoided Cang Ji’s gaze as if it would save him any face, gave Cang Ji no other option but to lean in again, capturing Jing Lin’s mouth once more in a swift motion. His lips parted easily, none of the hesitation or reticence normally on display present as he began to kiss Cang Ji back on his own, one hand letting go of Cang Ji’s robes to cup his jaw and hold him fast, as if Cang Ji would ever leave him, could ever.
A rumble started in Cang Ji’s chest, a deep noise of pleased possessiveness that he let take root as he continued to envelop Jing Lin. He fed that feeling the gasp Jing Lin gave when Cang Ji grabbed his waist, a there-and-back-again parting as Cang Ji hoisted him up and braced him against the wall so that he had no choice but to wrap his legs tightly around Cang Ji’s waist to keep himself from falling. He let the fire in his blood - the same feeling he suspected was consuming Jing Lin now - ramp higher as their hips came into contact, the tell-tale hardness Cang Ji could feel against his own letting him know exactly how much Jing Lin was affected and he ground into it eagerly.
“You’re so honest here, babe,” Cang Ji whispered against Jing Lin’s lips, the hand at his jaw keeping him from drawing back any further - Cang Ji felt his lips turn up at this unconscious honesty, the small signs that made him want to give more, take more, see just how many reactions he could pull from Jing Lin before he noticed how much he was giving away. The pale skin of Jing Lin’s neck was reddened now, from the marks Cang Ji had sucked along it to the flush that had travelled down from his cheeks, further than Cang Ji had ever seen it before. He wondered how far he could get it to spread - as a test, gave more power to Jing Lin, another drop in that vast spiritual sea and as easy as breathing, but the response was immediate - the hitch of Jing Lin’s breath, the tightening of his legs, and the way his mouth softened, hot and desperate for Cang Ji’s kiss told him all he needed to know.
He crowded impossibly closer, pressing in close to give him the leverage to let go with one hand to attend to the all-important task of pushing aside Jing Lin’s robes to start to fumble with his pants. The fire and hunger inside him seemed to blaze higher as that pale skin was revealed, free from the cracks that had crossed it before but now marred in a different way. Red marks of an array of shades blossomed across his skin, stark against otherwise delicate perfection, and Cang Ji knew that if he leaned in, he could refresh them precisely, tempering Jing Lin further under his touch.
As the robes fell over Jing Lin’s shoulders, getting trapped in the crook of his arms as he clung to Cang Ji, Cang Ji leant in to seal his lips over a particularly faded mark. Jing Lin’s skin was normally cool to the touch but now he was feverish - Cang Ji could feel the blood pulsing underneath even though he was nowhere near a pulse point, the rush of desire no longer something even Jing Lin could hide. His hand slid inside the disarray of Jing Lin’s clothes, pushing aside fabric and slipping further down; he’d kept his touch and kisses light up until now but as his hand reached its target, he bit down. Jing Lin jerked in his hold, his back arching as far as physically possible pressed up so close to Cang Ji, his reaction a revelation that told Cang Ji more about how close he already was.
Jing Lin hadn’t been tender with him - Cang Ji wasn’t sure he would have let him, not with the desire that had simmered under his skin since they’d kissed, the desire he was just learning all of the outlets for - so Cang Ji had no basis for anything but diving in eagerly, nipping and licking at the skin of Jing Lin’s neck, chasing the movement of his throat as he panted with each twist of Cang Ji’s hand. His hips were trapped by their proximity, but Cang Ji was more than willing to do the work, savoring each twitch against his own hips as Jing Lin melted against him. His fingers dug into Cang Ji’s back, scrabbling for purchase against his outer robes, unable to leave a mark himself, intentional or not. Even if they weren’t husband and wife, even if no one could tell, despite Cang Ji’s desire to roar it openly on the streets, they were marked by each other. Jing Lin smelling of him that morning had loosened something in his chest, opening a floodgate that Cang Ji didn’t want to ever close.
And as his hand twisted again, giving Jing Lin no quarter, no escape, nowhere to fall other than over that peak and into Cang Ji’s arms, Cang Ji himself was now equally marked by Jing Lin’s scent. He could feel the spiritual power between them strengthen, a feedback loop of sensation he could lose himself in. He could feel his true form thrashing, a mix of sated possessiveness and need as he stared down at Jing Lin in his arms trying to gather his breath.
His efforts were cut short by Cang Ji grasping his chin and tilting him up for a kiss, desperate in its comfort. Jing Lin sank into it, letting Cang Ji nip at his lips and move him until his breathing slowed slightly, one hand coming up to grab Cang Ji’s wrist.
“Disgusting.” Cang Ji hadn’t wiped his hand, the brief thought of letting Jing Lin’s scent soak into his skin - repeating and reciprocating until it was indelible - overtaking his thoughts. Now he simply moved slightly, biting Jing Lin’s lips once more before moving to kiss lower. He licked the mess he’d left on Jing Lin’s chin away, keeping a hold of the other side as he turned Jing Lin this way and that so he could be sure to get all of it.
“There. Does that suffice?” Kissing the line of Jing Lin’s jaw had led him up to his ear; now Cang Ji traced the delicate shell of it, teasing with teeth and tongue as he watched it turn red once more. Jing Lin gave him so little with his words and expressions, but so much with his actions and these unconscious responses - Cang Ji wanted to catalog them all, to know Jing Lin in ways no one else would. To know, when others called him cold, what truly lay beneath.
“It’ll do.” Jing Lin’s breath had quickened again, gasps barely concealing small whimpers following each kiss as if each touch of Cang Ji’s lips against his skin put a shock through him. Cang Ji’s lips quirked up - the last time each sound and reaction had been hard-won, a reward after a series of not-so-careful but thorough investigations of hands and lips, up until the point that they spilled like rain from Jing Lin’s lips, the seal entirely broken. He’d writhed as if he were the one who was a carp, caged within Cang Ji’s arms.
Then, he’d fallen asleep quickly after reaching release, pushing aside Cang Ji’s wandering hands sleepily, but now, as Cang Ji threaded more power through their connection, his noises increased in volume and rather than sinking into sleep, he seemed to fall prey to another current entirely.
Most interestingly was the way Cang Ji could feel his cock, still trapped between them, start to harden again. He’d thought, from the way Jing Lin fell asleep each time that his own stamina was due to his demon blood - how many times could they rut against each other now? How many times would it take for Jing Lin to forget everything around them, until all he knew was Cang Ji’s touch and name? Would Cang Ji devour him then? Would he want to? Cang Ji hadn’t been inclined to like the king of hell much before this, but especially not now that he was keeping Cang Ji from discovering a new way to consume Jing Lin, these moments between so fleeting.
He growled against Jing Lin’s neck, and he could feel the way the vibration of it made Jing Lin shudder in his arms, clutching to him with an intensity that did nothing to calm Cang Ji’s blood or sate the desire to pull him closer, to find a way to entwine them further.
Cang Ji rocked against Jing Lin, holding him steady as he tried regardless. He reached up to pry one of Jing Lin’s hands from his shoulder, his heart quickening dangerously as Jing Lin tangled their fingers together, clutching at Cang Ji’s hand instead. But Cang Ji had a mission, and tugged Jing Lin’s hand down, shucking aside his own robes as much as possible. He was surprised when Jing Lin tugged his hand not away but between his own legs and poorly-pulled aside clothes. Past his hardening cock and lower further, back to slip between the curves of his ass, guiding Cang Ji’s fingers to the hole there before withdrawing. Cang Ji pressed in, testing its resistance as a corner of his mouth quirked up.
“Teaching me something new already?” Even without pressing in that far, tracing his finger around the ring of muscle there sent another shudder through Jing Lin.
“I’m tired. You should do some of the work,” he gasped, the words losing some of their bite in the way his words fumbled with each inquisitive movement of Cang Ji’s fingers.
After a couple traces, Cang Ji felt he had a fairly good idea of what Jing Ling had in mind. His mind flashed back to the scroll they’d seen at the brothel, the positions of the two men painted upon it odd at the time, but with the new knowledge of another way they could fit together, it clicked.
However… “Will this fit?” Cang Ji asked. He felt he’d gotten a fairly good sense of how large Jing Lin’s hole was, and while he knew that Jing Lin’s delicate frame belied how much he could actually take, he also knew he was...more endowed than most.
Jing Lin glanced quickly down between them. “It will.” His cheeks were pink, but Cang Ji didn’t know what he had to be embarrassed about. “There’s sword oil in my bags. Use it on your fingers to stretch first.” He’d turned his head to look away from Cang Ji as he said this, making Cang Ji’s heart itch, but this also left his neck arched. Cang Ji leant in to bite the skin there lightly as an admonishment.
“How long were you going to keep this from me?” Their bags were further in the room, near to the bed and while the wall they were against now gave him leverage to rut against Jing Lin, the bed worked just as well as another flat surface.
Rather than settling Jing Lin down, Cang Ji swept him into his arms, making quick work of their remaining clothes as he bounded towards the bed, loathe to put Jing Lin down for even the time necessary to search the bag for the jar of oil.
“I knew you had more good ideas, babe.” Cang Ji nuzzled the skin under Jing Lin’s ear as he spoke, shifting them both so that Jing Lin was spread out on the bed, a feast for all of his senses he would be kept from no longer.
As he leaned in, Jing Lin’s legs fell wide, making space for him and revealing the soft red skin behind his hard cock and balls that led to the small pink hole Cang Ji had felt earlier. He looked his fill, licking his lips at the sight of Jing Lin’s cock starting to leak, but refrained for the sake of pouring oil over his fingers, tracing once more the shape of Jing Lin’s entrance. It twitched slightly in anticipation against his touch, and Cang Ji could feel his throat growing thick. With the oil, his finger slipped in more easily, the skin and muscle giving way to stretch around the intrusion.
He had to choose which to focus on: the feeling of Jing Lin around his finger - hot and tight but giving infinitesimally with each movement, adjusting to him - the expression on Jing Lin’s face, his mouth falling open and eyes fluttering closed, or the sounds falling from that open mouth, the hitch of breath and bitten-off moans Cang Ji wanted to hear in full. Working deeper, he paid attention to all three, repeating motions at the jerk of Jing Lin’s hips or a particularly loud noise that could almost have been his name.
Watching Jing Lin lose his composure this way, to see the heat and passion at the heart of that cold exterior was its own drive, but Cang Ji couldn’t ignore the way his own cock throbbed, couldn’t help but imagine what the pressure around his finger would feel like around his cock, so different from Jing Lin’s cool hand.
Thinking about it, he almost fumbled the small jar of oil as he reached for it again, spreading it over more of his hand. This time, when he reached back, it was with three fingers, clustering them together and pressing in slowly.
Jing Lin’s reaction was immediate, a sharp cry breaking free, and while Cang Ji didn’t stop, he did slow. “You did say it would fit,” he started, his apology breaking off as he felt Jing Lin arch up, driving his hips further onto Cang Ji’s stilled fingers, trying to draw them in faster.
And what could Cang Ji do at that but laugh as he shifted up to be able to kiss Jing Lin, swallowing the moan that shook through him as Cang Ji pressed those fingers deeper, relaxing them slightly to start spreading. Three fingers were thicker than one, but still not what Jing Lin had said would fit. Soon, though, Jing Lin was back to inarticulate gasps, mouth slack and open as his hands grabbed at Cang Ji’s shoulders, now in easy reach. Cang Ji had played, curling and stretching and tapping his fingers within Jing Lin as much as he could, watching Jing Lin fall apart below him, almost as wild with desire as Cang Ji felt.
He paused, taking stock of Jing Lin’s face, ruddy with pleasure, the corner of his eyes wet with tears Cang Ji hadn’t even noticed. He licked them away now, one more taste of Jing Lin he’d never get enough of.
“Please,” Jing Lin sobbed. “I need…,” he trailed off, the words either too embarrassing or breath too hard to draw.
“What do you need, babe? I’ll give everything to you.” As if it wasn’t clear, from the way Jing Lin was writhing, from everything they’d already done, but Cang Ji wanted to hear it anyway, wanted to hear what lay between them spoken aloud, given weight. Given reality.
“You...please...in….with me.” The words were rough, the words almost lost under his cries but Cang Ji could have cared less. He’d used enough of the oil on his fingers that Jing Lin was loose and wet and all but dripping with it; he’d enjoyed the way it felt between his fingers, the way it let him slip deeper - he poured more on his cock now, pulling back just far enough to line up properly, to watch the place where they aligned, the place where Jing Lin accepted him in, in one more way.
He’d thought he was ready, was prepared, based on the way Jing Lin had felt around his fingers, but nothing he imagined could have compared to how it actually felt, for what feeling each clench and pulse of Jing Lin’s body around his cock would do to him. He grabbed Jing Lin’s hips to pull him closer, deeper onto Cang Ji’s cock, a move that had both of them crying out. He lifted Jing lin up slightly, trying to aim for that angle he'd found with his fingers and calling on all of his remaining strength to maintain it when he found it, when Jing Lin arched, his hands flying above his head to clench at the sheets, to try and give himself any sort of leverage, his body bowing in a perfect arch, straining to be released. But Cang Jin was holding him fast, held him perfectly at that angle as he drove in over and over, merciless.
For how long Cang Ji had kept Jing Lin on that peak, driven him high with desire, he was still surprised as Jing Lin gasped and shuddered in his hold, coming untouched once more between them. Cang Ji hardly noticed but for the way Jing Lin’s walls held him fast as he rode out Jing Lin’s orgasm, hauling him closer as he continued to thrust. He breathed deeply of Jing Lin’s scent and the way that like this, his own was so intermingled that he could hardly tell where one ended and the other began, creating something entirely new and theirs, like the spiritual power that threaded between them.
“You’re mine,” Cang Ji panted into the crook of Jing Lin’s neck, his hips still moving as if he could actually drive deeply enough to make them one. It was almost as good as drinking of Jing Lin’s blood; he could see why Jing Lin had said he would go crazy from it.
He felt it, already, felt drunk with it, especially as Jing Lin, whose breath was returning even as it was forced out of him slightly with each hard thrust of Cang Ji’s, reached out to smooth back Cang Ji’s hair from where it had fallen across his face in his frenzy. “Insatiable,” he said again, the harsh edges of the words smoothed in pleasure. “Best not to play with your meals. They might get ideas.” His hand was gentle, and strangely, that was what did Cang Ji in, what tipped him over the edge to spill deep within Jing Lin, taking the offering before him and biting down as he came. He could feel Jing Lin sigh, relaxing into it and letting himself be held close. It wasn’t a deep bite, more out of reflex than need - he felt sated, enveloped in Jing Lin and Jing Lin enveloped in him.
“I wouldn’t eat you yet,” Cang Ji murmured. A part of him understood why Jing Lin kept falling asleep after they did these things, satisfaction settling deep into his bones. “You still have things to teach me.” He reached lazily for one of their underclothes, wiping at the mess between Jing Lin’s legs and tugging him into a more comfortable position, snug against him. Even his true form felt sated and comfortable, flexing slowly as it drifted and he curled around Jing Lin.
Remembering something, he cracked an eye open. “So, does this make us husband and wife now?”
He fell asleep with the sound of his laughter at Jing Lin’s kick at him still ringing in his ears.