Chapter Text
After all the wondering and waiting and his own growing, restless anticipation, Wei Wuxian’s rut still comes as a surprise to Jiang Cheng.
The coals in the brazier have barely cooled when Jiang Cheng is awoken by the sounds of Wei Wuxian thrashing and groaning on the other bed. It sounds like he is in pain; Jiang Cheng is instantly alarmed even if he is at best half-awake.
As he slips out of bed and carefully navigates the obstacle course that Wei Wuxian’s clutter poses in the dark, he curses him under his breath.
Wei Wuxian had chosen to sleep in his own never-used bed tonight, after being moody and disgruntled enough to give Jiang Cheng a run for his money. He had been difficult to deal with all evening, demanding of Jiang Cheng’s attention but irritable when he had it, and restless enough to drive them both to distraction. Jiang Cheng hadn’t been sorry to be spared his twisting and turning as he tried to go to sleep in accordance with Gusu Lan’s rules, while Wei Wuxian’s body still screamed at him to be running or fighting. Jiang Cheng had sparred and wrestled with him until curfew forced them back into their room but instead of working off his restless energy as it usually did when the alpha in him was overcome with aimless aggressiveness, the playfighting had only left him more high-strung.
He sits on the edge of Wei Wuxian’s bed and leans over him to place a hand on his forehead. He is hot and sweaty; it makes Jiang Cheng hiss in faintly alarmed surprise. Wei Wuxian is burning up. He had long since kicked off the covers, but he is still burning up and his sleep clothes are damp with sweat just like his face.
He bites down on his bottom lip, debating with himself. Cultivators of Wei Wuxian’s strength don’t often get sick with mundane illnesses. It wouldn’t be unheard of, but very unlikely. If Wei Wuxian were an omega, he would say he is going into heat. Does rut burn you up the same way? He huffs in frustration, for he doesn’t know. Gossip never teaches you the truly important things.
Jiang Cheng leans in closer. He buries his face in the crook of his neck and inhales deeply, letting the strong alpha scent fill his nostrils and all his senses. The barely noticeable change in his smell is suddenly blatant from up close, and he can only wonder why he hadn’t noticed it before – but that might be because Wei Wuxian hadn’t left his side all day long. He had grown used to the heady scent and the low, simmering effect it had on him.
Jiang Cheng shudders, eyes fluttering shut as he inhales again. Now that he is aware of it, it is impossible to ignore the strength of Wei Wuxian’s scent, or how heavy it hangs in their room, or how it is burning in Jiang Cheng’s blood.
His body knows this scent though he has never gotten a proper whiff of it before – Yunmeng Jiang alphas don’t show themselves in public during their rut.
But he knows. The truth is there in the way this smell floods him, body and mind. It burns hot in his veins like wine drunk too fast.
If Wei Wuxian were his bonded mate, his rut scent would be enough to catapult Jiang Cheng’s body into heat.
A shiver of anticipation runs down his spine; it flutters in his belly all nerve and excitement alike and mingles with the stirrings of arousal.
“A-Cheng.” Wei Wuxian’s voice is rough and shaky but there is nothing shaky to the firm hold with which he encircles Jiang Cheng’s waist. He yanks him down and keeps one arm slung around his waist while the other hand slides lower to knead at his ass cheeks through the flimsy fabric of his night robes.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t fight being positioned on top of Wei Wuxian; he just squirms a little when his lover’s cock presses against his belly. Wei Wuxian is already fully erect and he can’t help wondering how long he has been hard, aroused, and in need of Jiang Cheng even in his sleep.
A shudder runs through Wei Wuxian’s body, he growls at his squirming. Yet he nuzzles so very sweetly at his hair even as his fingers dig into Jiang Cheng’s hips hard enough to bruise.
“I’m burning up,” he murmurs. He sounds feverish, too. His voice is rough and slurred. “A-Cheng. It hurts.”
Jiang Cheng crawls higher, until his lips can find Wei Wuxian’s in the darkness, and breathes, “Let me help you,” against the crook of his neck. He lets half a heartbeat pass before he grinds down, slow and deliberate.
Wei Wuxian’s next growl comes like he has been punched. He is panting as if he had exerted himself instead of laying still, or maybe as if laying still is the real exertion.
“I need to fuck you now, A-Cheng. I can’t wait any longer.” The hands gripping him turn into hands yanking at his sleep robes, not even tugging them off but just yanking them aside so he can fondle Jiang Cheng’s bare thighs and ass cheeks.
Jiang Cheng’s heart skips a beat and he squirms again, for real this time instead of just in teasing. Startled because Wei Wuxian never gets right to playing with his ass before he has even kissed him yet, then a little alarmed when blunt, dry fingers are already prodding at his hole while he is still adjusting to cold air against his ass. He squirms harder, half trying to get away from his alpha’s probing fingers even as the unexpected roughness goes right to his cock and makes him want nothing but to get closer.
“Oil?” he squeaks out, but Wei Wuxian just works the pads of two fingers over his tightly clenched hole as if he hasn’t heard, or hasn’t noticed that it is far too soon and Jiang Cheng is only just starting to get slick.
Jiang Cheng huffs in frustration, squirming away just enough that he can reach for the small bottle of oil strategically hidden under the mattress. He is grateful for his foresight. They never sleep in this bed, but they don’t always make it to his own before fucking.
He throws the bottle at Wei Ying’s head and barks at him, “Use this, or I’m not letting you stick anything into me, knothead!”
It is exciting when Wei Wuxian takes him underprepared, when he makes him feel the sting and bite of being stretched too wide too soon and Jiang Cheng goads him into taking him even harder with every whimper. That is fun - but not when Wei Wuxian is going to keep fucking him all night. Not when he will keep fucking him far longer than just tonight, if they aren’t separated in the morning.
An alpha’s rut takes days, just like his own heat, and Jiang Cheng intends to be here for all of it, his body to be used over and over again for as long as Wei Wuxian needs him. Just, on his terms.
Deep down, he had wondered whether it would be Wei Wuxian or just an alpha wearing Wei Wuxian’s body once the rut hits him.
Now, Wei Wuxian gives a startled laugh when he is hit in the forehead by the vial. He bites at his throat hard enough to make him whimper and complains, “A-Cheng is still cruel to me.”
The demanding hands disappear. They return just a moment later, before Jiang Cheng has time to complain. A hand roughly spreads Jiang Cheng’s ass cheeks apart and the other spills a generous amount of oil along his crack. Another moment passes before the fingers are back at his hole and this time, Jiang Cheng eagerly pushes back against them, demanding more. Wei Wuxian’s hands are calloused from sword fighting, they feel deliciously rough against his sensitive hole. He presses two fingers against his rim and Jiang Cheng whines as he realizes Wei Wuxian had only been teasing him before. This here, this now is the real thing. Wei Wuxian isn’t holding back anymore.
He squirms, his face red and burning as he grinds back against Wei Wuxian’s fingers. He is reduced to moaning a moment later when they push past the tight ring of muscle, first two then a third, working him open quickly while Jiang Cheng rocks his hips, caught between the bliss of grinding his cock against Wei Wuxian’s and impaling himself deeper on his fingers.
“You don’t know what you are doing to me, A-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian groans. He buries his face against Jiang Cheng’s neck, nose pressed right to the scent gland where he would already carry his mating bite if the world were fair. “You have no idea how hard it is to hold back.”
But he does, because Wei Wuxian’s fingers are mercilessly rubbing over the same spot deep inside him over and over again like he is trying to milk the slick from his slow, stubborn body. Jiang Cheng whimpers as his muscles spasm with every sharp jolt of pleasure, his hole clenching tight around Wei Wuxian’s fingers and his hands around his shoulders, and every gasping breath he takes fills his lungs with Wei Wuxian’s alpha scent.
Not his mate’s scent, not yet, not until they will finally be allowed to spend a heat together, and that missing piece is almost a physical hurt all over again.
He is too caught up in sensation and emotion, becoming aware of himself again only when he is already being pressed face down into the mattress by a hand on the back of his neck.
He whines, bucking up against the restraining hand on his neck, then against the other hand spreading his cheeks wide open again.
“Don’t fight me,” Wei Wuxian rasps right against his ear, his voice rough and wrecked and so very unlike himself Jiang Cheng barely recognizes it anymore. “Don’t fight it. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Wei Wuxian slams into him to the hilt in one hard thrust and Jiang Cheng’s eyes go wide in shock and lust and something not quite but nearly outrage. Hands scramble to find purchase on the covers, find something, anything to hold on to as Wei Wuxian gives his neck another warning squeeze and starts fucking him for real.
His hole is wet with slick now but Wei Wuxian feels so large inside him with Jiang Cheng utterly at his mercy, speared on his cock and drowning in his scent.
He likes it this way sometimes, likes it when Wei Wuxian gets rough with him and a little bit disrespectful, when he treats him like a hole to be fucked. But it has always been a game. Tonight, with the rut clouding his senses, Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how much of it is pretend. He comes for the first time tonight to the thought that it could be real.
He gasps a broken, “A-Xian,” but Wei Wuxian doesn’t stop, doesn’t even falter in his frantic pounding. He slams into him over and over again, each downward thrust hitting his prostate and forcing a sharp gasp from Jiang Cheng. His untouched cock twitches, spilling spurts of seed to be ground into the sheets.
With every thrust, Wei Wuxian is a tighter fit as his knot keeps growing, tugging at his poor rim each time he pulls out and each time he forces himself back inside. His orgasm has barely faded when it is this sensation that is driving him mad all over again, even more so than the sharp pleasure from his prostate. He whimpers, fingers tearing at the sheets. Wei Wuxian barely even fits anymore with that big knot, and he feels so huge inside him, he is stretching him wide, so wide, and he still keeps growing.
Wei Wuxian leans down all the way over him and these deep thrusts turn into rapid, small jerks of his hips. The knot keeps swelling, locking him inside Jiang Cheng.
There is the sharp pain of teeth against his scent gland, biting down hard, hard enough to draw blood, and there is hot cum filling him up and the knot…
He gasps, sobbing through his second orgasm as Wei Wuxian keeps grinding the head of his cock against his sweet spot while the thick knot at the base of it stretches him so wide, he wants to cry from it and it’s too much, it is far too much and they have barely even begun.
Hot, tender kisses against the aching bite mark bring him back to awareness that there is more to his body than being stretched and being filled with cum and wrung dry of pleasure.
Wei Wuxian keeps worrying at the fresh bonding bite with delicate licks and he is all but purring in contentment. For Jiang Cheng, it is only a bite but for Wei Wuxian, it is so much more in ways Jiang Cheng is still too blissed out to try and comprehend. Wei Wuxian has bound his alpha self to Jiang Cheng with this bite, even though Jiang Cheng’s own body won’t recognize him as his mate until he is bitten during a heat.
“A-Cheng, my A-Cheng,” he murmurs, a hint of teasing to his voice and so much undisguised love that something soft and tender uncurls in Jiang Cheng’s heart. This sounds like his Wei Wuxian.
He twists to peer at him the best he can, a futile endeavor as he quickly realizes and sinks back into the mattress with a pout. “Next round, you fuck me on my back. I want to kiss you while we wait for the knot to go down.”
“Hm?” Wei Wuxian shifts on top of him and angles the two of them until they are kissing, even like this - awkwardly and clumsily, but they are kissing. He is so sweet; it makes Jiang Cheng’s heart hurt with love.
They kiss until his neck hurts from craning it like this and then Wei Wuxian peppers his neck and shoulder with kisses before returning to lapping at the bite mark.
“Satisfied?” he asks teasingly.
It’s honestly quite impressive that Wei Wuxian can still sound light and teasing because Jiang Cheng is still feeling like he is falling apart at the seams from sheer pleasure and that is all Wei Wuxian’s fault. Wei Wuxian, who was foolishly, recklessly romantic enough to bind himself to Jiang Cheng though he can’t give him anything in return just yet. Wei Wuxian, whose thick, fat knot is still buried in his ass and makes Jiang Cheng want to whimper with every tiny movement while he has a mind for teasing. The swollen base of his cock is seated snugly inside Jiang Cheng’s hole, keeping him firmly locked with his alpha and plugged up so tight not even any slick can escape and that is so many of Jiang Cheng’s fantasies come true – and they have still barely even begun.
But Jiang Cheng is still Jiang Cheng, he can’t gush.
Since it is too dark for Wei Wuxian to see him rolling his eyes, he huffs his outrage, “Don’t get ahead of yourself! I will need more sample kisses to decide that.”
Jiang Cheng had always wondered what it would be like to wait for the knot to go down, if it would be awkward or weird. In truth, it isn’t much different from any other kind of aftermath, with them clinging to another as they lazily, tiredly exchange caresses, kisses, and banter.
It is only just so much more at the same time, and too distracting to nod off as he might otherwise. He squirms and clenches as little as he can but also can’t fully stop himself from wanting to test how the knot feels within himself. The slowly deflating knot tugs at his hole, not exactly painful but definitely making him feel it, especially when they angle around for kisses. It reminds him that he is Wei Wuxian’s to fuck and fill with his seed and not go anywhere until his alpha is done with him. Where before he had been too tightly plugged up for any fluid to escape, he is now leaking cum and slick, which tickles and further makes him want to wriggle in giddy discomfort.
“Stay,” Wei Wuxian growls as if he had picked up on his thought and the lustful shiver it sent down his spine. He nips at his scent gland and grinds down against his ass.
It is enough to make Jiang Cheng shiver again, more distinctly this time. His belly clenches with renewed desire, though his cock remains soft. He simply whines, a little bit frustrated with himself and Wei Wuxian and everything.
“You smell so sweet, A-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian whispers into his ear. This time, it is his earlobe he nips.
Once they are no longer locked together, Jiang Cheng hopes he will leave marks all over his body. He is certainly going to leave his own on Wei Wuxian.
For now, he demands, “Tell me more.”
Wei Wuxian laughs, then complies. “Your omega scent has never been as vivid to me as it is now.” These hungry teeth of his are finding his scent gland yet again, closing over it like they would if he were to place another mating bite, though he does not bite with any strength. There is merely the teasing pressure of teeth against skin, enough to make Jiang Cheng tense in giddy anticipation but not enough to break the skin. “I could drown myself in it, A-Cheng.”
It’s so unfair they have to wait until his heat. If only he were a beta or another alpha, they could complete their bonding during this rut. But with them being alpha and omega, this bond will remain incomplete until his heat. Unfair.
“I want you to,” he confesses, still a little pouty. “You bound yourself to me already.” He should be wallowing in Jiang Cheng’s scent and Jiang Cheng’s everything, that is how this works. Another thought occurs to him, one he likes even better. “You made it so everyone will see your bite on my neck.”
“Good. You’re mine.” Wei Wuxian growls again, a rumble that resonates through his chest. Once again, his teeth dig into the sore spot left from his earlier preliminary bite. Not enough to make it bleed again but enough for Jiang Cheng to jerk in surprise and go submissively still before he can remind his body that he isn’t one for being submissive.
Then Wei Wuxian starts thrusting into him again, using what leeway his softening knot gives him to grind into his prostate with every roll of his hips, and Jiang Cheng is reduced to nothing but overwhelmed moans.
They are resting again, Wei Wuxian laying prone on Jiang Check’s back while he is pinned beneath him. Despite earlier misgivings, it is the position he has come to like best for waiting out the knotting though he still likes to complain about it. It makes it hard to kiss and Wei Wuxian is heavy, not to mention as hot as a furnace pressed against his back.
He isn’t quite sure he remembers how often Wei Wuxian has fucked him by now, all he knows is that night has long since given way to the faint light of morning.
That they have gone undisturbed so far bodes well. Unlikely that strict Gusu Lan should respect their need for privacy, but quite likely Nie-xiong put two and two together and gave their excuses.
Jiang Cheng can only hope so, he doesn’t think he has the face to handle being discovered like this. Not to mention, he can vividly imagine how newly mated Wei Wuxian will react if it is an alpha who enters their cabin. It wouldn’t be pretty.
Merely bringing it up is enough to make him growl and tense up in a way Jiang Cheng understands to be all fight instincts. Alphas in rut are both territorial and protective of their mates in ways which even Wei Wuxian’s cheerful personality can’t fully outweigh, and honestly, he would forever deny it, but it is very flattering. Maybe it makes him a terrible person, but he always takes secret delight in it when Wei Wuxian is ready to fight other alphas for him, even if he feels obligated to prevent any actual fighting.
“They shouldn’t even think about it! It’s bad enough you kept driving me mad all day. Strutting around where other alphas could see you and smell you, where just about anyone could touch you.” His voice lowers to a growl at that. “They don’t know you are mine.”
He rolls his eyes. There is nobody in Cloud Recesses who doesn’t know Jiang Cheng is Wei Wuxian’s, least of all after yesterday’s possessive displays.
His lips curl into a mischievous little smile. “Why don’t you remind me instead?” He hums mock thoughtfully. “There are quite a few handsome alphas…”
Wei Wuxian inhales sharply and goes perfectly still on top of him. “You shouldn’t have done that, A-Cheng,” he says, voice shaky and rough. His smell grows stronger, sharper, as much of a too-late warning as his words. “You really shouldn’t have done that. I was going to give you more time to recover but now…”
Now Wei Wuxian is sitting up, his hands are grasping Cheng’s hips with a bruising tight grip forcing him deeper into the mattress…
Jiang Cheng moans and gives himself to sensation. He decides for himself that Wei Wuxian’s ruts are his new favorite thing in the world.
They nap, they drink water, they feed another tanghulu Wei Wuxian had brought from his last illicit trip to Caiji Town and lick the sugary stickiness from another’s fingers and lips.
Jiang Cheng had thought that Wei Wuxian would be more interested in using every hole of his, like he does when he is simply feeling regular alpha dominant. Turns out that in his rut, he is singularly focused on fucking his ass, on breeding him, but when Jiang Cheng goes down on him, he is as eager as always to fuck his mouth.
He is rougher, though, nothing is quite enough to satisfy him no matter how deep he thrusts into Jiang Cheng’s throat or how punishing his pace is. During the first round, Jiang Cheng lets him grip his hair and hold him still while he makes Jiang Cheng gag on cock with every jerk of his hips. He wants to know how far he will go, what he will do, he is eager to discover everything about this different side of the boy he has known half his life.
The second time, his curiosity is momentarily satisfied, and he hisses at him, batting away the hands grasping for his hair.
Jiang Cheng has basked in being a wanton omega and he has napped and he has snacked; now he is ready to have things going his way for a change.
“I did not tell you to touch!” he snaps, shooting Wei Wuxian a glare from where he is crouched between his legs. “Keep your hands to yourself or I’m tying them to the bedposts.”
This time, it is Wei Wuxian who whines. He is adorably wide-eyed and confused in his suddenly aimless want, so obviously startled by Jiang Cheng’s mood change.
Jiang Cheng smirks triumphantly. “Better.”
He gives a lazy lick from the base of his cock to the tip, following the vein at the underside.
“My ass is already sore because you can’t control your strength; I’m not letting you wreck my voice, too.” He stretches out on the bed, feet swaying lazily in the air while he is propped up on an elbow, the other hand on Wei Wuxian’s hip to keep him down and reward him with gentle caresses for good behavior. “Your rut is going to last for days,” he tells him with narrowed eyes. “Did you think I’m going to let you pound away at my ass day and night like some mindless brute?”
That is not to say that he doesn’t like Wei Wuxian pinning him down and fucking him hard, and he thinks he would also like to be bent over the table and the tub and basically every other surface in their room before this rut is over, and maybe he would like to be fucked until he cries.
But Jiang Cheng has plans of his own here and these are important, too.
He has spent a very long time fantasizing about exactly what he wants from their first ruts and heats spent together, and he is realistic enough to know his first heat with Wei Wuxian may easily have him so overwhelmed he will be doing nothing but begging for his cock. His heats mostly just make him the angry kind of horny when he has to suffer them alone, but that may very well be different if he is overcome by the presence of his newly bonded alpha.
This only means he needs to get his wins now, while he is in control of himself.
He leans down, lips closing around the tip of his cock. He swirls his tongue pensively over the head, licking up beads of precum, suckling gently, even taking him a little deeper once in a while, but he ignores the almost pained noises Wei Wuxian makes.
He is so very good at being good, though. Even in his rut, he tries so hard to behave for him once Jiang Cheng wants to take over.
“A-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian gasps, “Please, A-Cheng…” A shudder runs through his sweat-glistening body. So pretty. Wei Wuxian is breathtakingly pretty. “It’s so hard to hold back. I need to come.”
Jiang Cheng hums. He relaxes his throat and sinks a little lower yet around his length. His fingers massage the base, right where the knot will form once he comes. He closes his eyes and inhales deeply the overwhelmingly strong alpha scent. He inhales deeply, letting it sink into his blood, into his head.
The omega in him wants to submit. But Jiang Cheng is more than omega instincts, even as his cock hardens in response and he feels himself grow wet again, the scent of an omega ready to be fucked mingling with Wei Wuxian’s arousal.
“Stay!” he snaps when Wei Wuxian tries to sit up. “I’m not done yet.”
He swallows around the head nestled deep in his throat, then pulls back enough that his tongue can lavish wetly against his length. He pulls himself fully off his alpha’s cock and works at it with nothing but teasing small licks, right until a ripping sound catches his attention.
He looks up, smugly satisfied when he discovers Wei Wuxian has torn the pillow he had been gripping in his desperation to keep from reaching for Jiang Cheng.
Wei Wuxian can be so good for him.
As a reward, he fists his length and lavishes the head with hard little licks until Wei Wuxian comes all over his face, beads of white clinging to his lips and the bridge of his nose and even his eyelashes.
He lets Wei Wuxian lick spurts of his cum from his cheeks and his chin, then lets them be fed to him when Wei Wuxian’s tongue thrusts into his mouth.
Maybe it is a lull in the rut frenzy or maybe it is some instinctive response to Jiang Cheng denying him a mating, however little he has actually denied him, but Wei Wuxian’s hands are finally mapping his body now, hungrily touching every part of him that had gone neglected while he was singularly focused on fucking his hole.
He is rougher still than he would be on any other night, and his touch burns with possessiveness. Jiang Cheng whines under a rough pinch to his nipple and squeaks in indignant startlement when teeth clamp down on the inside of his thigh hard enough to leave a mark.
“A-Xian! You are a beast in rut!”
He squirms away when Wei Wuxian burrows his face between his legs, certain that the eager nosing at his cock won’t last long with the heavy scent of his slick so close.
On normal nights, he loves it when Wei Wuxian sucks his cock until he is dripping wet, loves it when he proceeds to lick him clean and go right back to teasing him with little bites and kisses to all the most sensitive spots on his body until he is soaked again. Wei Wuxian is a playful and attentive lover, and he can spend hours lavishing attention on Jiang Cheng without growing bored or impatient. Right now, Jiang Cheng has absolutely no worries that he may grow bored, but very much doubts his patience.
He isn’t ready yet to go back to being fucked into the mattress. He has plans.
“I know. I know. But you’re too tight, A-Xian,” he murmurs into his ear, “I need you to relax.” He crooks his finger deep inside him, savoring the shudder that runs through Wei Wuxian’s body.
He is so pretty, and prettiest of all when he lays beneath Jiang Cheng, with his bent legs pressed against his chest by Jiang Cheng’s body weight, and Jiang Cheng’s fingers working him open with ever sweet, agonizing patience.
He draws back his hand and swipes at his own hole, collecting more of his slick to rub into Wei Wuxian’s tightly puckered rim. He is tense, finding it hard to relax under Jiang Cheng’s touch, his primal instincts confused and unbalanced by this reversal of their roles. It is very fortunate that Jiang Cheng doesn’t mind doing a little bit more work than usual to get him ready, quite the contrary. He has always liked a challenge.
It’s hot, really, how he can read the struggle on Wei Wuxian’s face. He is fighting against himself to submit to Jiang Cheng.
He fucks two fingers into him and then three, slowly working him open until he is loose, and his body only remembers to want.
Jiang Cheng clouds him in a wave of enticing omega scent as he sinks into Wei Wuxian. He takes him sweetly this first time, sweet and tender with long, languid strokes that make Wei Wuxian whine and gasp until broken pleas fall from his lips.
Wei Wuxian may very well be made to be fucked in his rut, he thinks, he is so very pretty when he lays beneath Jiang Cheng with his face sweat-slick and flushed and his eyes hazy with confused want. He comes so prettily for him, too, all it takes are a few strokes of Jiang Cheng’s hand for Wei Wuxian to spurt his seed all over his own belly and grow that lovely fat knot.
Having Wei Wuxian’s knot to play with is almost even better than having it inside him.
Jiang Cheng learns that he likes mouthing at it and working at it with his fingers and taking his sweet time exploring how often he can make him come again before he has grown fully soft until Wei Wuxian pleads for mercy. Between fucking his hole and using his mouth and hands on him, they are not bound by the wait the knot forces on them, and he learns it takes barely any effort at all to drive Wei Wuxian back to full arousal while he is in rut.
Later, he pins Wei Wuxian down as he pinned him. His alpha snarls beneath him as he is mounted. He fucks him hard to display dominance, just like another alpha would, and sinks his teeth teasingly into his scent gland.
“I wish I could knot you,” he murmurs into Wei Wuxian’s ear, gratified by the stifled moan it earns him, “I would like to be tied to you until I’m ready to fuck you again, as you do with me.” Normally, such crude words wouldn’t pass his lips. Normal feels very far away today.
Wei Wuxian gives a breathless laugh. “I knew you would like that. You’re cruel.”
He smiles, suddenly feeling a little bit chagrined though he had only just thought today is a day where he is incapable of shame. “Maybe you know what you’re talking about when you say that,” he demurs with an apologetic kiss to the back of his alpha’s neck.
“Cruel,” Wei Wuxian complains again, but Jiang Cheng can hear his smile.
The fight for dominance seems to have calmed him, letting him burn more thoroughly through that restless rut energy than simply fucking Jiang Cheng did.
Jiang Cheng isn’t sure if he could actually win when Wei Wuxian doesn’t want him to, he has always been better at wrestling as he is better at most things. For once, he finds the thought pleases him. It is flattering to think Wei Wuxian wants him enough to hold back even when all his instincts are flaring up to resist.
Wei Wuxian turns around and they curl up against another laying on their sides, heads tucked together, legs sprawled out. As fun as knotting Wei Wuxian would be, there is something to be said for freedom of movement.
Wei Wuxian’s fingers are back brushing over the tender bite marking Jiang Cheng’s scent gland.
He shoots him a lazy, heatless glare, grumbling, “Are you still not tired of admiring your repeated mauling?”
“No,” Wei Wuxian responds cheerfully. “It’s a very nice mark.”
He hums, quietly agreeing. It is a very nice mark; he had had the opportunity to admire it during one of their breaks. Most importantly, it is tangible proof of Wei Wuxian’s still incomplete claim on him.
“Do you feel different?”
Wei Wuxian goes quiet for a while in a way Jiang Cheng recognizes as one of his rare pensive moments. Jiang Cheng caresses his fingertips along his spine in gentle, patient encouragement. They had been so overwhelmed by the rut; he doesn’t think either of them had yet given thought to anything beyond it.
“I can feel you,” he finally says. He gives his nose a pensive tap and hums, eyes distant. “I’m aware of you like I wasn’t before. I… But I don’t even know how much is the rut and how much the bond.” Frustration at not finding the right words bleeds into his voice. “I can just feel you.”
Jiang Cheng hums, a little bit disappointed with that not-answer but content enough to wait until Wei Wuxian has sorted it out. He will know for himself soon enough, anyway.
Or… Well. So he hopes. It had been reckless of Wei Wuxian to bite him when there is no saying when they will be allowed to spend a heat together and complete the bond on Jiang Cheng’s end. Until then, Wei Wuxian will have all the burdens of being a bonded alpha with very few of the perks.
“Do you think they have forgotten us?” Wei Wuxian wonders out loud suddenly. “Nobody came to check on us all day long.”
“Let’s just enjoy our luck while it lasts,” Jiang Cheng tells him, not adding that he doesn’t think it will last much longer. It is unlikely they will go a second morning undisturbed, but there is no point in agitating Wei Wuxian just when he has calmed enough to rest.
He really hopes it won’t end in bloodshed once someone comes to check on them; Jiang Cheng would hate to be expelled.