Chapter Text
The person in his arms tangled around Hua Cheng like a python, but he had never felt lighter and more free. The heels of Xie Lian’s boots knocked against his legs as he curled in on him as if he was trying to climb in like a tree, but he stood still, intent on keeping them upright as their lips stayed locked. While one arm was wrapped tightly around his shoulders, the hand grabbing his collar in a tight fist, another soft hand had also set itself upon his face, cradling the underside of his ear and keeping Hua Cheng from moving his head.
“Gege, I – I thought you – You’d be at –” It was difficult to get any words out; even after letting the kiss go on for so long, any time he separated even their bottom lips, Xie Lian would lean in to meet them again. He was giving ample spiritual power with each kiss - he’d clearly spent what still remained sparingly over the past year. Or it had simply been so much it couldn't be quenched, even when he’d tried so hard to pour it into him a year before. Regardless, he fought with His Highness, giving what he gave straight back to him as he kept trying to make a sentence. “At the – Shang- yuan - Fest-”
“No!” Xie Lian exclaimed, finally cutting him off with more than just a kiss. The struggle over spiritual energy was over, and the man in his arms leaned back to take a better look at him. A heel dug further into Hua Cheng’s leg for support - as if the ghost's arms weren’t enough - as his arm unraveled from his shoulder, and both hands searched over Hua Cheng’s face. As thumbs brushed over his cold skin, tugging so gently at the corners of his lips and across his cheeks, Hua Cheng could feel his dead heart rise to life with a soft and quiet thump.
“I had to wait for you,” Xie Lian told him, a grin on his face but with a heaviness in his eyes that came from a year’s worry being relieved all at once. Though his eyes were wet with tears, he barely even allowed himself to blink, like Hua Cheng would disappear like smoke the moment his oak-colored eyes closed. The ghost’s hands would have quivered, if they weren’t holding something so invaluable. He had been struck dumb by Xie Lian’s words, and his head was knocked back softly when Xie Lian leaned in again to press their foreheads together.
Their lips touched again, and there was no excuse of passing spiritual energy to him this time.
“You’ve just–” Xie Lian didn’t seem interested in letting him speak. A kiss caught Hua Cheng’s words before he could finish them again.
“I’ve been here. I’ve gone down to collect scraps, but I’ve always come back.” A kiss. “I weeded the mountain so you wouldn’t trip.” A kiss. “I cleared and redid the road so you wouldn’t get lost.” A kiss. “I planted flowers so you’d have something to gaze on while you walked - you missed those.” Another kiss. “I made a cottage and then tore it down and built it better, to better fit your tastes.” A final kiss, and Xie Lian wrapped both his arms around his shoulders and buried his head in the crook of his neck. As his face nuzzled in, Hua Cheng, still reeling, took a chance to look around.
He knew he wasn’t lying; he knew that the mountain looked particularly beautiful and well-kept when he’d arrived. But with the complete knowledge it was all done by Xie Lian’s hand - to the extent of weeding a whole mountain… His eye scanned the grasses that framed the clear and smooth dirt road. No blooms remained, the last of the red maples had long since come and gone, but the snow was melted, and every plant that had survived the winter's frost was still obviously carefully planted and pruned. He turned on his feet, Xie Lian’s hair waving in the breeze as their bodies swirled in place, and he looked up at the cottage. This one he hadn’t really noticed initially, but he could now tell it was not a shack Xie Lian had simply found. All the wood was new, and it was entirely structurally sound. A house Xie Lian had built by hand, just for him. His grip on his beloved tightened, with one of his hands raising to hold his hip.
“Gege.” The head pressed against his own stirred, and his hair tickled Hua Cheng’s face. He leaned his head to get their faces closer, and mumbled again. “Gege.” This time, Xie Lian’s face moved closer, just enough for Hua Cheng to catch his lips again, to kiss him deep enough to bruise. A voice had nagged at him as he slowly gained consciousness and energy in the past year that Xie Lian would move on. That he’d go off on his way, and Hua Cheng would just have to start again, like he always had, and simply chase the ghost of a man that always managed to slip through his fingers to places he couldn’t follow. And yet this time, he stayed right where he was. Like a bride waiting for his husband to come home from war, confident he’d come back in one piece.
A breeze blew their hair together, and as their tongues tangled, he could feel Xie Lian’s body shiver. The wind had become frigid - his own fault for taking too long to meet His Highness again - and Xie Lian was one to wear thin, fraying clothing. That was something he ought to fix if he could. He’d have to collect the silk in Mt. Tonglu when he had the chance. But for now, he only walked to the cottage door, and leaned close enough that he could link a couple fingers around the hook for the door without needing to part a single arm from His Highness. He pulled, shoved his boot in the space he’d created between the door and its frame, kicked it open with care not to sully Xie Lian’s hard work, and walked the both of them in together.
Their lips parted again, but this time, Xie Lian kept their foreheads together. He leaned closer to Hua Cheng’s missing eye, giving the ghost a chance to look around without the use of any spiritual weapon. The inside was just as sturdy as the outside, and it was full of signs of a year of Xie Lian calling this place home. One of his sets of robes hung from a rope in the room, and the kitchen was filled with varying utensils and an empty pot that still sat on the oven, waiting to be cleaned now that it had cooled off. A sack of half-assorted scrap lay in the corner, a stool still among the mess where Xie Lian had clearly last sat as he parsed through it, and rather than a straw mat, there was a bed large enough for two.
His eye came back to meet the closest of Xie Lian’s. His beloved’s face was red now, maybe half from their embrace, half from having his labor laid bare. He didn’t need to say what he was waiting for; Hua Cheng could tell he was waiting for praise.
“Gege worked hard. It’s beautiful.” Xie Lian smiled at his words, but quickly leaned back and covered his face in embarrassment.
“It was easier than I thought. I kept thinking there would be leaks. That suddenly termites would come and eat up the whole place. Or it would get struck by lightning. But no.” His hands lowered, the tips of his fingers tapping on his soft, inviting cheeks. “My luck isn’t so bad anymore.”
His shackle was gone, after all. Hua Cheng nodded, and while Xie Lian was busy half in thought, he shifted his foot and spun them. Xie Lian let out a yelp and darted his hands out to grab his shoulders so not to fall, and as he did, Ruoye snuck out and curled like a cat’s tail around the back of Hua Cheng’s neck. Perhaps Xie Lian’s silk friend had missed him too. E'Ming, meanwhile, had been vibrating the moment they had both heard the wheels squeaking up the path, and he had merely been ignoring it.
He swirled them both around to the bed, and when his shin touched its frame, he dropped back and landed with a little bounce, still keeping Xie Lian steady all the while - though the god hadn’t expected the fall and hadn’t locked his elbows, and thumped their chests as he fell forward onto him. His cheeks were flush when he pulled himself up, and when Hua Cheng smiled at him, his lips pursed like he was debating whether to be upset at the teasing or not. It was quite the sight; his hair hung around his shoulders like silk, and his lips were already blotched red from their kisses, stark against his jade-white skin. His usually straight, full brows furrowed, and he leaned back, but was cutely careful about it - he clearly couldn’t bear to part their bodies fully, but his shame and shyness won him over enough that he made sure not to touch Hua Cheng in any untoward way, and rather than sit back on his lap, he knelt half on Hua Cheng’s thigh, half on the bed, and kept one of his hands in his own lap. The other reached out to fiddle with Hua Cheng’s hand, sending a spark up his arm.
“San Lang,” Xie Lian mumbled, his eyes locked on that hand. Hua Cheng hummed in response as he stared only at his face, but was keenly aware of a nail strumming over the thread wrapped around his finger. “Do you remember what you asked me when we rode the step litter?”
Hua Cheng could feel his heart manage a new quiet thump in his chest, no more noticeable than a fallen acorn. He played cool, but inside his mouth, his teeth dug into his cheek.
“...I remember everything I do with Gege,” Hua Cheng replied after a moment, though a thought suddenly crossed his mind. He pulled himself up on his forearms, and raised his foot up to rest a heel on the wood frame of the bed. “But…”
Xie Lian looked back at him, a look of fear crossing his face before he schooled his expression and looked back down at his hand. The nail had followed Hua Cheng’s hand when he had pulled himself up, and strummed the thread wrapped around his finger a little faster. Hua Cheng resisted smiling, and his dead heart beat faintly a little more. He picked his words carefully, tugging at and swirling his fingertips around a bit of the blanket underneath them.
“But I don’t remember that time as well. I don’t quite remember what I said. Could Gege remind me?”
Xie Lian’s face turned a bright red, which quickly spread to the round little ears that poked out from his hair. He tightened his lips and straightened them again, glanced at him, and then turned his head entirely from his view. His hand retracted from Hua Cheng’s to wring his fingers together at his lap for a few minutes. Hua Cheng could not contain his smile, which evolved to a grin. He knew His Highness too well. If he was too embarrassed to say it, he would have announced it. He would have whined or mumbled his name. But he hadn’t.
So Hua Cheng waited patiently, swirling the piece of the blanket between his index finger and thumb, until Xie Lian found his words.
“San Lang, will you…” He started to turn his head, though not all at once. First he just revealed the profile of his face and licked his lips, staring forward at the wall. His face’s redness hadn’t ceased, but the silky hand of his found Hua Cheng’s again. He steadied himself, and then met Hua Cheng’s eye. “Will you marry me?”
The hand that had been hovering over his hand was enveloped, and his other arm was thrown to coil around Xie Lian’s waist. He dragged his fiance down with him, and twisted their bodies so he hungover his beloved, with one foot keeping him steady on the ground and the knee of his other leg on the opposite end of the legs that, hidden under white robes, dangled over the edge of the bed. Their lips locked again, and he could feel Xie Lian’s hands raise to caress his face.
“Yes, your Highness,” he told Xie Lian only after savoring the kiss for a few minutes. Xie Lian opened his eyes to look up at him, the air from his lips lingering against Hua Cheng’s face as the god struggled to catch his breath. His red-splotched, swollen lip trembled, and with a single firm yank on Hua Cheng’s collar, he dragged him down into a deep embrace.
They didn’t kiss; Xie Lian buried his face in him again, and Hua Cheng was all too willing to surrender himself to the thin but sturdy arms. He slunk down slowly and rested his weight on his right shoulder, and pulled Xie Lian closer yet so they could lay side by side, their legs both curling in on each other’s over the side of the bed. Xie Lian’s heart beat strongly against his chest, and in response, Hua Cheng’s own heart stirred. It thumped quietly to life, mimicking the rhythm of Xie Lian’s own.
Out the window, the lanterns still littered the sky, making the stars pale in comparison to their glow. The Heavenly Officials up there were probably panicking up there in the new Upper Court, but that thing was the furthest thing from Hua Cheng’s mind.
They laid like that for a while, until Xie Lian’s body rippled with a concealed yawn. Hua Cheng smiled, and rubbed circles on the other’s lower back.
“Gege, you still have your shoes on. We should get ready for bed.”
Xie Lian nodded into the crook of his neck, and after only a few more moments, he peeled himself off from Hua Cheng. His gaze on him lingered, like he still couldn’t believe he was here. Hua Cheng smiled in response, and the gaze softened and left him. He had leaned over to pull his shoes off, and Hua Cheng finally raised up and did the same. With both their shoes set aside, Hua Cheng admired the view for a moment. Their set of bare feet side by side on the floor beside the bed - both white, but Hua Cheng’s a ghostly pale, while Xie Lian’s was more akin to a cloud, and complemented by blossoms of red on the tips of his toes. Hua Cheng’s feet were bigger, but Xie Lian’s were more appealing in his opinion; thin but long, and with the bones underneath peering through the skin like the wrinkles in a white silk fabric.
Xie Lian shifted his weight as he tugged his outer robe off and out from under him, and Hua Cheng glanced back at him when the knees knocked. As Xie Lian folded the robe to set it aside, Hua Cheng first started undoing his belt. And just as he did, another mischievous thought crossed his mind. He dropped the belt across his boots, and set an elbow on his knee, and a cheek on his fist.
“Gege.”
Xie Lian looked at him, though with his pose alone, the god clearly knew the ghost wasn’t up to any good. There was a nervousness that couldn’t be hidden in his eyes, but he still hummed in response.
“If we’re to be married…” His loose hand began to play with the bead in his hair. He could tell by the eyes alone, Xie Lian knew where he was going. As much as he tried to keep his face straight, he was starting to panic. Hua Cheng grinned. “...It won’t be official unless it’s been consummated.”
The round little ears turned red first this time, before it spread to the rest of his face. He expected a yell or a whine of his name, but instead, he looked forward and wrung his hands again. Hua Cheng raised a brow. Xie Lian’s lips tightened, and the wringing hands started to tremble.
“I–” Xie Lian started, but before he could, Hua Cheng pulled himself up to sit properly again and went back to removing his outer robe.
“Of course, Gege’s cultivation prevents it. Oh well. It can be official in our hearts. Or we can stay merely engaged forever. Just the fact that Gege asked me to marry him is enough.” Xie Lian went silent then, with the escape rope he had been provided. Hua Cheng finished peeling off all but his inner robe and pulled the blanket down to lay back on the bed on the side closest to the wall, ensuring Xie Lian had plenty of space to lay beside him.
Xie Lian stared down at him quietly for a moment, before pulling his hair free of his signature bun. He laid down on his side next to Hua Cheng, and the ghost covered them both with the blanket.
“San Lang,” he mumbled. This time, Hua Cheng hummed in response. His face blossomed red again. “...Not now, but wait for me.”
Hua Cheng cracked a smile and switched to roll on his side to better stare at his beloved. A soft hand touched Hua Cheng’s cheek again, and a thumb and index finger rolled over his earlobe. Neither of them said another word, but an understanding was met. He pulled Xie Lian closer again, and they laid again in bed together, not as friends on a straw mat, but as an engaged couple in a proper bed.
Xie Lian did not go to sleep right away. Every time Hua Cheng opened his eye to glance at him again, Xie Lian was staring at him incredulously - he didn’t always notice he was being watched, either, as his gaze wasn’t always just on his eyes. Hua Cheng caught him studying his lips, his nose, his eyepatch that he’d been too nervous to take off in front of Xie Lian - and no matter where his eyes touched, his fingers would gently crawl to follow. Like he was trying to etch it all into his memory, to get every piece of him right. Or maybe to double-check this wasn’t a dream, that this wasn’t someone else, like if he kept searching he’d find something that’d give him away as a fake.
“Gege,” Hua Cheng whispered to Xie Lian. Blue was starting to bloom underneath his eyes where his tiredness crept in. “Go to sleep. I promise I’ll stay. I’ll be here when you wake up. I won’t move.”
Xie Lian didn’t speak, but his eyes met his own one eye with the slightest furrow in his brows. The god believed Hua Cheng, he was sure of it, but the lingering ache of a year was probably clouding his heart.
“Gege, I’m between you and the wall. If I move, you’ll wake up. I’ll be here, I promise.”
Xie Lian’s thumb drifted across Hua Cheng’s face again, and after a moment of staring, he settled his hand on Hua Cheng’s shoulder instead and curled closer in on him. He closed his eyes, and after only a few breaths, Xie Lian began to snore.