Archive of Our Own ^beta

The oil lamp burned low, casting soft golden shadows across the red-and-white sprawl of the blanket-strewn floor. Rain had stopped tapping at the roof a while ago, though a few drops still fell, like fingers lingering too long after a parting touch. Everything smelled faintly of sandalwood and damp earth, tinged with the faintest sweetness. 

Xie Lian shifted, drawing his knees up as he leaned forward on his hands, robe pooling in soft waves around him. Across from him, Hua Cheng was sprawled out on his side like a very pleased beast of fortune. His crimson robes draped artfully, one braid slipping over his chest, the red pearl glinting faintly in the low light like a knowing wink.

The dice that Xie Lian had gently been rolling between his fingers skittered across the lacquered wooden board—glinting under the lamp, warm. Xie Lian's fingers hovered above them.

“San Lang…” he said slowly, narrowing his eyes, “are you still rigging the game somehow? I’ve won exactly one round in the last eight.”

Hua Chen's eye sparkled. “Would I ever do something so dishonorable to gege?” he asked, voice honey-slick with feigned innocence. “We’re evenly matched now, remember? I even adjusted our luck so it’s fair.”

He was right. Before the game began, Hua Cheng had reached over, palm cool and solid against Xie Lian’s chest, and murmured something low and mischievous under his breath. Xie Lian had felt a flicker of warmth in his core, like someone had relit the lantern inside him. Spiritual energy. Shared luck.

Even so, he eyed Hua Cheng suspiciously as he reached for the dice for his turn.

With maddening elegance, Hua Cheng rolled them with a flick of the wrist. They made a soft clicking sound against the rings on his fingers before landing with a spin—and showed three dots.

They both blinked.

“A tie,” Xie Lian said slowly. “What do the rules say?”

“It means I win,” Hua Cheng said immediately, absolutely unapologetic.

“That is not-!” Xie Lian spluttered.

“The rules were vague, gege. I’m only filling in the gaps.” Hua Cheng said with a grin that could only be described as smug. 

Xie Lian huffed, but the corners of his mouth betrayed him, tugging upward despite his best efforts.

Honestly, Hua Cheng was entirely too charming when he pretended to be clever and sly—like a fox cub caught red-handed, still convinced it was outwitting the world.

“This time, I have a very serious question, gege.” He leaned forward, and the air between them shifted faintly.

Xie Lian eyed him warily. “I’m almost afraid to ask what it is.”

Hua Cheng propped his chin on one hand. “What kind of oil do you prefer when I massage you? The sandalwood one, or the jasmine?”

Xie Lian blinked, momentarily caught off guard. “That’s… serious?”

“Well?” Hua Cheng prompted, eyes gleaming.

Xie Lian hesitated, then mumbled, “Jasmine… it’s softer. And it reminds me of our gardens.”

“Noted,” Hua Cheng said, already looking far too pleased. “I’ll warm it next time.”

Xie Lian crossed his arms with great dignity and declared, “Well, next time there’s a tie, I win.”

Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow, amused. “Changing the rules midway, gege?” He threw his dice, landing on a four.

“It’s only fair,” Xie Lian sniffed, his lower lip sticking out just slightly. “You already win half the time by charm alone.”

Hua Cheng laughed, soft and indulgent. “Very well. Next tie belongs to you. May the heavens have mercy on me.”

Xie Lian stared at him, lips parted slightly, before rolling the dice again in self-defense. 

To his astonishment, he won.

“Ha!” he cried, triumphant. “Six to your four!”

Hua Cheng clapped his hands together. “What does gege wish of this humble servant?”

Xie Lian’s ears burned. He cleared his throat and looked anywhere but at Hua Cheng's smug mouth. “Don’t mock me. I get to ask for something, don’t I?”

“Anything you want,” Hua Cheng murmured, low and steady, eye far too serious than the situation called for when it locked onto Xie Lian's. 

Xie Lian hesitated. It had started out as a silly way to pass the night, but now each round felt like it pulled them closer, thread by thread. And suddenly the air felt warm. Tangled. Intimate. Outside, the summer night hummed faintly with distant cicadas, a lazy chorus to their private world.

“Alright,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Tomorrow morning before prayers, you have to sit still and let me do your hair.”

Hua Cheng blinked. Then grinned. “But I’d let you do that anytime, gege.”

Xie Lian smiled cheekily. “I’m just curious how you’d look with twin buns.”

Hua Cheng cackled, tipping his head back. The sound did something warm to Xie Lian’s chest, like someone had dropped a pebble into still water and ripples were spreading outward.

“So, we’re doing dares now?” Hua Cheng sat up suddenly, eye gleaming with intrigue, mischief crackling in the air as he murmured to himself, “I see,” the corners of his mouth curling like he’d just opened a treasure chest of wicked possibilities.

Xie Lian immediately sobered. “What do you see?”

“Time to raise the stakes, no?” Hua Cheng said, stretching his legs out under the table, nudging Xie Lian’s ankle with his toe and acting like it was an accident. “We’ve been tame so far.”

He tossed his die again without waiting for permission. It bounced high and landed clean: six.

Xie Lian groaned. “Not fair. You’re clearly using some- some underhanded Ghost Realm dice technique.”

Hua Cheng looked delighted. “Would you like to search me, gege?”

“Absolutely not,” Xie Lian said too quickly, picking up a grape from the little dish between them and popping it into his mouth, cheeks puffing slightly as he chewed.

“Then sit still,” Hua Cheng said smoothly. “Because I won this round, and my dare is…”

He leaned in, just a little.

“...a kiss. On the cheek.”

Xie Lian stared at him. “You’re just going to keep collecting those, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t complain,” Hua Cheng murmured. “Gege’s kisses are… very motivating.”

There was no way to respond to that, not with dignity intact, so Xie Lian simply leaned in and pressed a quick, feather-light kiss to the curve of his cheekbone. Cool skin. Soft hair brushing his nose. He lingered half a second too long.

When he pulled back, Hua Cheng eye was slightly hooded, watching him as if something unspoken had passed between them.

“You smell like tea,” Hua Cheng said. “And grapes. Delicious”

“What’s delicious,” Xie Lian mumbled, reaching for the dice again. “My turn.”

They rolled.

Thunder rumbled outside—long and low like a lion waking.

Xie Lian blinked down at the dice.

Six.

Hua Cheng's?

Two.

He looked up in triumph. “I win.”

Hua Cheng raised a brow. “Oh? What shall you ask of me now, Your Highness?”

Xie Lian quirked his lips. “Come with me to the Heavenly Feast next month.”

Hua Cheng’s face fell theatrically. “That? That’s your request?”

“You promised to say yes,” Xie Lian reminded him sweetly.

“I was hoping for something a bit more sinful,” Hua Cheng muttered under his breath, then perked up again. “Very well. I’ll suffer through the dullest night of my life if it means sitting beside you.”

Then, with a wicked gleam: “But only if I get to call you my consort all night.”

“San Lang-!”

“I’ll behave,” Hua Cheng said, snickering. “Mostly.”

“Thank you,” Xie Lian said, eyes laughing. “Now roll.”

The dice clattered again. This time, Xie Lian lost. Of course.

Hua Cheng didn’t even bother to gloat. He just reached out and delicately plucked the winning die from the table, turning it over between his fingers as if admiring a work of art. Or perhaps weighing possibilities.

Xie Lian tried not to squirm under that look.

Hua Cheng set the dice down, leaned in a little. “This one is simple,” he murmured. “May I kiss your hand?”

Xie Lian blinked. “You already asked for a kiss last time.”

“Mm,” Hua Cheng smiled, soft and devastating. “But that was you kissing me.”

He extended his hand palm-up, waiting.

Xie Lian hesitated. Then, slowly, he lifted his arm and rested his hand in Hua Cheng’s. Their fingers touched, and the contact was... startling. Not new, not strange, but suddenly different. A shift in the temperature of the room.

Hua Cheng held it reverently, as if he were holding something sacred, and lowered his mouth to the back of Xie Lian’s hand.

The first kiss was feather-light.

The second… wasn’t.

Xie Lian’s eyes widened slightly when he felt the warmth of Hua Cheng’s tongue—just a soft, slow drag along his knuckles. His breath caught. His lips parted involuntarily. And Hua Cheng, of course, noticed.

When Xie Lian tried to tug his hand back, flustered, Hua Cheng held it a moment longer and smiled as if to say: Too late, gege.

“S-San Lang!”

“Mm?” Hua Cheng blinked innocently. “It’s still a kiss.”

“That’s not-! That’s-!”

But his voice faltered when Hua Cheng smiled at him, just slightly lopsided, as if he hadn’t meant to do it but was already halfway drunk on the taste of his skin.

“Your turn,” Hua Cheng said softly.

Xie Lian’s hand lingered in his grip a moment longer before he pulled it back, flushed but smiling.

The next roll—Xie Lian won. Miraculously. He blinked down at his die, half convinced the universe had made a mistake.

Hua Cheng gave a gentlemanly bow of his head. “Your wish, Your Highness?”

“Mm..” Xie Lian crossed his arms and sat back, tapping his finger to his lip, considering. “I want you to make me a flower,” he said at last. “Like your butterflies. Just one.”

Hua Cheng blinked, clearly not expecting that.

Then his gaze softened. “Of course.”

Then he opened his palm. A shimmer of silver-red light pulsed in the space above it, and with a gentle flick of his fingers, a strange and beautiful bloom unfurled—deep crimson petals edged in white, dusted in glittering light. It looked like it had been grown from a star. Hua Cheng tucked it into Xie Lian’s hair without a word.

“There,” he murmured. “Now you're the most beautiful thing in the room. As always.”

Xie Lian flushed, instinctively reaching up to touch it. It was cool to the touch, and faintly warm beneath. He rolled the next die just to avoid having to say anything in response. Of course, he lost again.

Hua Cheng tapped his chin, eye narrowed in exaggerated thought. “Hmm... this is a difficult decision. So many options. What should I choose…”

“Just say it already,” Xie Lian muttered, suspicious.

Hua Cheng clasped his hands. “Gege, I dare you to sit on my lap.”

Xie Lian blinked. “Why even-?”

Hua Cheng gave an exaggerated pout, head tilted. “Ah… I see. Gege wins once and suddenly refuses to fulfill dares. So heartless…”

Xie Lian was beginning to realize something terribly dangerous about this game: every dare was just shy of inappropriate. Never enough to refuse outright. Just enough to make him flustered.

“I-fine. Just for the next round.”

He moved stiffly at first, climbing over the table and the cushions and settling sideways in Hua Cheng's lap, careful to keep a polite distance between their bodies. But it didn’t quite work. Hua Cheng's arm curled naturally around his waist, drawing him in.

The weight of it made Xie Lian’s spine straighten, his breath catch. The heat of the body pressed in against his back was grounding and dizzying all at once.

“There,” Hua Cheng murmured. “Very obedient.”

Xie Lian refused to dignify that with a reply. “Roll,” he said instead, jabbing the die toward the other's hand.

They rolled awkwardly from that position, both dice bouncing crooked across the blankets. Xie Lian leaned forward a little to see the numbers—then jolted when Hua Cheng's hand pressed gently to his lower back, steadying him.

“Careful,” Hua Cheng chuckled against his neck, “You might fall.”

“You’re having too much fun with this” Xie Lian whined. He plucked at a loose thread on his sleeve, pretending not to notice Hua Cheng’s gaze lingering on him.

“I am,” Hua Cheng agreed, rolling a grape between his fingers before flicking it into his mouth with precision, like a trick shot.

Xie Lian made a strangled sound and looked towards the dice. 

“I win,” Xie Lian said smugly, arms still crossed where he sat stubbornly in Hua Cheng’s lap. 

“Oh no,” Hua Cheng said, mock-aghast. “Whatever will Your Highness demand of me?”

Xie Lian tilted his chin, clearly feeling just bold enough to attempt to fluster his husband the way he had been doing all night. “Feed me some fruit too, San Lang. You’re being greedy”

Hua Cheng blinked, then broke into a delighted grin. “Yes, gege.” He reached for the plate, plucked the plumpest grape between two fingers, and held it up to Xie Lian’s lips.

“Say ahhh,” he cooed, far too sweetly, the tone unmistakably that of someone feeding a spoiled toddler.

Xie Lian squinted at him. “Don’t you dare-”

“Ahhh~” Hua Cheng insisted, waving the grape a little closer.

With a grumble, Xie Lian opened his mouth and bit down, but Hua Cheng’s fingers didn’t retreat. Instead, they lingered, slipping just a little deeper past his lips under the guise of helping. Cool fingertips brushed his tongue, teasing and slow.

Xie Lian jerked back with a scandalized yelp, cheeks aflame. “San Lang!”

Hua Cheng threw his head back and laughed, shameless and sparkling. “What? I was just helping gege chew.”

Xie Lian picked up the dice indignantly, preparing for the next throw. His face felt too hot, the warmth spreading all the way from his ears to his chest. 

The next roll clattered to a stop on the table—Xie Lian’s die showing a full six, Hua Cheng’s a modest three.

“I win again!” Xie Lian announced with a breathless laugh, both surprised and deeply triumphant. “That’s twice in a row now, San Lang! Aren’t you impressed?”

“Incredible. Gege’s luck really has changed. At this rate, I might not survive the night.”

Xie Lian beamed proudly, bouncing slightly where he sat, unconsciously shifting in Hua Cheng's lap with a soft, pleased wriggle—all pretense of ‘just one round’ forgotten. 

Hua Cheng made a low sound in response, and then—almost reflexively—his fingers tightened at Xie Lian’s hip. A firm squeeze.

Xie Lian stilled, blinking down at the pale hand curled around his waist. 

Hua Cheng laughed low against his ear “If you keep celebrating like that, gege, I won’t be able to concentrate.”

Xie Lian didn’t dare ask what that meant.

“So I get to ask you something again.” Xie Lian instead replied, scratching absentmindedly behind his ear, the gesture delicate and a little fidgety.

“Anything,” Hua Cheng smiled at him, giving his hip one more affectionate squeeze.

Xie Lian paused.

And then paused again.

His gaze drifted to the side.

A thousand possible questions floated to the surface, but as he sifted through them, an errant thought caught on something in his chest and refused to be brushed away, uninvited and a bit too daring. His eyes dropped, lips pressing together in a line, cheeks dusted pink.

He hesitated, unsure if he should ask it.

Hua Cheng noticed instantly. “Hm?” he hummed, low and playful. “What’s this? Why is gege blushing so prettily again?”

“It’s nothing,” Xie Lian said too quickly, only to bite his lip and look down quickly, scolding himself for how easily his skin gave him away, but Hua Cheng was already brushing his fingers down his arm in a light coaxing touch.

“You can ask me anything, remember?” Hua Cheng said gently. “Whatever’s in your heart, I want to know.”

Xie Lian stayed quiet a moment longer, fingers nervously toying with the folds of red robe pooled in his lap. A cool breeze floated in through the open window, rustling the edge of Xie Lian’s sleeve and fluttering the corner of the tablecloth.

Hua Cheng leaned in. “Don’t hide it from me.” he coaxed. His smoothed Xie Lian’s slightly windblown hair back, fingers gently toying with his earlobe. 

“I just… I was wondering…” Xie Lian started, but immediately trailed off again, then let out a soft frustrated exhale. “You’re so- San Lang, you’re so smooth. Bold. You always say and do things so easily. And sometimes I wonder…”

He paused again. Hua Cheng waited.

Xie Lian glanced at him, then away, and mumbled, “Have you… ever been with anyone before? Like that? Like… this?” He gestured vaguely to the way he was perched in Hua Chen’s lap like a pampered prince, their faces so close he could feel every breath ghosting across his lips, feel his beloved’s fingers still toying gently with his ear.

He added quickly, “I know it’s not my place to ask that- I didn’t mean to pry- I just-”

“Gege.”

Hua Cheng’s voice was calm. Steady. But now dipped with something harder underneath. He reached up with one hand, his cool fingers brushing against Xie Lian’s jaw before gently taking hold of his chin and tilting his face upward.

Xie Lian let him, wide eyes meeting the single burning one now locked onto his.

“No,” Hua Cheng said firmly. “Never. Not once. In eight hundred years, there has only ever been you.”

Xie Lian blinked.

“And of course it’s your place to ask,” Hua Cheng went on, unwavering. “I always have been and always will be utterly yours.” He looked at Xie Lian with faith so fierce and unshakable, like a vow etched into the marrow of the world, as if his entire existence had been forged for the sole purpose of belonging to Xie Lian. 

Xie Lian’s eyes widened at the intensity in his voice, throat tightening. For a moment, he just stared, lost in the sincerity blazing in that single red eye.

Then he smiled, soft and small, relief easing the tension in his shoulders. “Okay,” he murmured.

Hua Cheng watched him for another long moment, then finally released his chin, fingers trailing gently along his jaw before falling away. His grin returned, wry and a little too smug. “So gege was jealous?”

“I was not!” Xie Lian protested, already turning red again.

Hua Cheng chuckled and nuzzled his cheek. “So cute,” he whispered. “Should I swear it again, just in case?”

Xie Lian buried his face in his hands. “You’re so shameless.”

Hua Cheng’s hand moved slowly up and down Xie Lian’s back, fingers tracing lazy, soothing lines as he leaned in close, voice soft with curiosity and the faintest lilt of amusement. “Mm… what brought that question to gege’s mind?” he murmured. “Some secret thought keeping you up at night?”

Xie Lian twitched slightly where he sat, still tucked neatly in Hua Cheng’s lap. He ducked his head, fiddling with the hem of his sleeve, then mumbled, “I only asked because… well… you seemed so experienced…”

Hua Cheng tilted his head, bemused. “Experienced?”

Xie Lian glanced up, then quickly looked away, face warm. His hand made a vague motion toward Hua Cheng’s fingers, then to his own mouth. “You know. That earlier…”

Hua Cheng blinked, and then burst into warm, open laughter, holding Xie Lian a little tighter with one arm as his chest shook. “Aiya, gege, forgive me. I should apologize,” he said, not sounding even a fraction sorry. “It’s not because I’ve done any of this before. It’s because I’ve dreamed about doing these things with you for so long that the moment you let me… I just keep getting more and more shameless.”

He laughed again, but this time the sound was gentler, and Xie Lian heard something in it—something small and vulnerable tucked beneath the humor. A note of guilt, maybe, or wistfulness. The laughter faded quickly, leaving a soft pause in its wake.

Xie Lian stared at him, eyes bright with innocent curiosity “Wh-what do you mean, ‘things’?”

Hua Cheng’s expression shifted instantly, like a boy caught red-handed. He visibly winced, the corners of his mouth twitching into a tight, pained smile. “Don’t worry about the details,” he said weakly, waving a hand.

Xie Lian kept looking up at him, red to the ears, but something stubborn and persistent boiling in his core. Something that wouldn’t let him shut his mouth. “B-but.. you said you dreamed about..”

“Gege,” he whined, dropping his forehead to Xie Lian’s shoulder. He looked as if he’d just taken internal damage. “Please. Don’t think about it anymore.”

“But you looked- really upset just now,” Xie Lian pressed, turning a little in his lap, peering at him with wide, searching eyes. “If it’s something important-”

“A-Lian.” Hua Cheng looked up at him, expression tight, voice still gentle but edged with something more. And—A-Lian—Hua Cheng rarely called him that, maybe once or twice before, when Xie Lian had pushed himself to exhaustion with Heavenly duties or lingered a little too long in someone else's company.

Xie Lian pouted up at him still, eyes beseeching. 

Hua Cheng scrubbed a hand down his face, fingers dragging over his jaw as he exhaled sharply, looking equal parts frustrated and helpless, like a man trying very hard not to throw himself into the fire he built with his own hands. “You don’t know where you’re headed with these questions.” 

Xie Lian, despite every warning and the burn of Hua Cheng’s words still lingering in his ears, found that some reckless thread inside him refused to fall silent. Maybe it was the way he was curled so close in Hua Cheng’s lap, or the tension coiled thick between them like stormlight, but the curiosity kept rising in his throat, impossible to swallow down.

“I’m just trying to understand,” Xie Lian mumbled, clearly confused, blinking slowly. “You said you've dreamed about… about things, and…I just..”

Hua Cheng inhaled sharply through his nose and let it out, steadying himself. Then he leaned in, mouth brushing close to Xie Lian’s ear, voice low and rough:

“I’ve dreamed of you straddling me just like this—flushed and trembling, with my fingers not just in your mouth, but deeper… in places that would make you cry out my name, over and over, until you forget your own.”

Xie Lian went absolutely still.

Hua Cheng closed his eyes for a beat, then pulled back just enough to see Xie Lian’s face. He reached up and gently pinched his cheek between two fingers, his touch unbearably tender.

“Among other things,” he added softly, with a crooked smile and the faintest blush beneath the porcelain.

Xie Lian’s entire face was up in flames by this point, eyes wide and unblinking, mouth opening once—twice—before he pressed his lips together tightly, visibly trying to collect himself. He took a slow, measured breath, hand rising to his chest as if to calm his racing heart, and began, “San Lang, I-”

“It’s okay, I know you don’t understand what I’m saying.” Hua Cheng cut in gently. “I know you still keep your vows. And I swear- I will never push, never cross that line if I thought you were truly uncomfortable. The second you say stop, I’ll stop. That hasn’t changed.”

His hand rubbed slow, earnest circles along Xie Lian’s back again. “You’ve already given me more than I ever thought I’d be allowed to have.”

The room had gone quiet, as if the world itself were holding its breath. Outside, the breeze shifted gently through the open windows, stirring the gauze curtains like whispers. The low flame in the oil lamp flickered, throwing soft gold across their tangled robes, the sheen of sweat on Xie Lian’s neck, the glint in Hua Cheng’s eye.

Neither of them moved. They just looked at each other, eyes locked, heartbeat to heartbeat.

Xie Lian's lashes trembled faintly, but he didn’t look away. His voice came quietly, like a ripple through a still lake. “My cultivation vows were never about staying pure,” he said, barely above a whisper. “I just… never had a reason to give them up.”

Underneath him, Hua Cheng didn’t so much as breathe. His fingers, still resting against Xie Lian’s side, curled slightly, almost without thought. His voice, when it came, was hoarse. “And now?”

Xie Lian’s throat bobbed in a swallow. His lips parted. “Now I have one.”

The words hung heavy, simmering with heat and meaning, tension thick as honey between them.

Hua Cheng exhaled, long and slow. He pressed a knuckle to his mouth, as if physically restraining himself, yet he leaned in slowly, like someone approaching a sacred flame. “Do you understand what you're saying, gege?” he asked, almost too softly. 

Xie Lian looked at him, face flushed red but gaze unwavering. His answer came quiet, but steady. “I do. I’m ready.”

The silence that followed was thick and molten. 

Hua Cheng was staring at him like a man at the edge of worship and sin. His red eye glowed softly in the dim room, gaze dark and unreadable.

“…You’re ready,” he repeated.

Xie Lian nodded, fidgeting with his sleeve again. “It’s just that… I don’t really know anything.” He looked down, distressed, then up again bashfully.

“I mean…” Xie Lian fidgeted again, flustered now. “I know people kiss. And things happen. But I always thought… a kiss was just pressing your mouths together? Like this-” and he mimed a quick, closed-lip peck into the air, as if kissing an invisible plum.

Hua Cheng made a sound like he was being strangled.

“Gege…”

“I’m serious,” Xie Lian rambled, too earnestly given the situation. “What’s the difference between a kiss and just touching lips? People say it’s romantic but they never explain why. Is it like… symbolic? Like a ritual? I mean, if you want to express love, wouldn’t a hug be more-?”

“Gege,” Hua Cheng said quickly, dragging in a breath. He ran a hand through his hair, then exhaled again, laughing helplessly. “Gege, I don’t think you understand what you’re doing to me.”

Xie Lian faltered. “What’s wrong?”

Hua Cheng dropped his hand and looked at him, devoured him, with a hunger so intense it was almost a vow.

Then: “I could show you,” his voice was low and thick. “If you want. Only if you want.”

Xie Lian nodded, shy but sure, the motion soft as a breath.

Hua Cheng’s jaw flexed, his hand briefly clenching where it rested at Xie Lian’s waist. “I’m going to move you, alright?” he said gently, though his voice was already molten with want.

He adjusted with slow, controlled precision, shuffling backward until his back met the headboard. The cushions rustled beneath them, the lamplight casting flickering shadows over the sharp angle of his jaw, his exposed throat. With one hand steadying Xie Lian’s back, he shifted him forward—lifting and guiding him to straddle his lap, knees bracketing his hips.

Xie Lian settled with hesitant grace, robes pooling around them. The sensation of sitting like this, so close, made his entire body heat. The position was more intimate than anything they’d shared before, so much so that even Hua Cheng’s breath audibly hitched when they finally settled.

He lifted a hand to Xie Lian’s cheek, brushing his thumb along the bone like he was afraid he’d disappear. “Are you sure?” he asked again, his voice low, trembling at the edges.

Xie Lian met his gaze, wide-eyed and blushing, but steady. “I’m sure,” he said. “I want this, San Lang. A lot.” He swallowed, then added, “I want to know everything. I want to do everything, with you. So don’t hold back.”

Hua Cheng looked like he was unraveling in real time, his lips parting, jaw tightening like he was barely holding something in.

“Gege…” he breathed, almost pained. “You can stop me at any time. If it’s too much-”

“There’s nothing you could do that I wouldn’t want,” Xie Lian said, voice breathy but certain. “Even if I get confused, or embarrassed… keep going. I’ve been untouched for over eight hundred years, San Lang. I.. you’ll need to push me a little.”

Hua Cheng looked like he was being tortured by heaven itself, devotion and hunger warring violently across his face. He closed his eye for just a second, as if centering himself. And then, with a shuddering breath, he opened them again and whispered, “Okay”

Xie Lian's heart beat so fast it almost hurt.

Hua Cheng leaned up, lips brushing his ear. “I’m going to kiss you. Just feel it. Don’t think.”

The first kiss was feather-light. A brush of mouths. Hua Cheng’s hand cupped the back of Xie Lian’s neck, guiding, not forcing. The second kiss was firmer, lingering just a moment longer. When Xie Lian didn’t pull away but instead gasped softly, Hua Cheng tilted his head and kissed him again—softer, deeper. His lips moved slowly, coaxing Xie Lian’s trembling ones to part just slightly.

Then he pulled back, eye dark with restraint. “You kiss me now. However you think it’s done.”

Xie Lian swallowed nervously. He leaned in, closed his eyes, and kissed Hua Cheng—lips pressed together, still and uncertain, like he was following instructions without quite knowing what they meant.

Hua Cheng’s hand clenched against the bedframe.

“Again,” he whispered.

This time Xie Lian tilted his head.

Their noses bumped. He flinched back immediately, mortified. “I don’t know where the nose goes!”

Hua Cheng was visibly struggling now, his jaw tight, the other hand resting obediently on Xie Lian’s hips, though it flexed against his robes like he was barely holding himself back.

“Here- tilt just a little. Like this.”

He guided him gently, adjusting Xie Lian’s chin.

Xie Lian tried again, this time kissing him slightly off-center, uncertain, lips too soft, too still.

Hua Cheng made another low, wrecked sound against his mouth.

“I’m- I’m doing it wrong, aren’t I?” Xie Lian whispered, pulling back, mortified again.

“No,” Hua Cheng rasped, eyes blown wide. “You’re doing it perfectly. ”

Xie Lian kissed him once more. A little off-center. A bit too quick.

But Hua Cheng let him. Every mistake made him burn hotter.

One of Xie Lian’s hands came up to rest lightly against his shoulder. His other hand pressed shyly to Hua Cheng’s chest.

Then he leaned in and tried again.

This time he lingered, letting his lips move just slightly, remembering how Hua Cheng had kissed him. His breath was shaky. He kissed his upper lip, then the lower.

Hua Cheng shuddered beneath him.

“You’re doing so well, gege,” he rasped, voice husky. “Keep going.”

Encouraged, Xie Lian tilted his head and gave a more confident kiss this time, hesitantly imitating the motion, opening his lips just enough- 

And Hua Cheng groaned.

Xie Lian flushed down to his throat, frozen where he sat. “I- what did I do?”

“You opened your mouth,” Hua Cheng said, almost laughing, almost wrecked.

He dipped forward suddenly, tilting Xie Lian’s chin, and this time his tongue licked slowly across the seam of Xie Lian’s mouth.

Xie Lian jolted, eyes flying open.

“Why did you do that?!”

Hua Cheng chuckled darkly.

“It’s just my tongue,” he said, voice like honey over fire. “It can be part of kissing too. If you want.”

Xie Lian hesitated, then said, very quietly: “Show me again.”

So Hua Cheng did.

He kissed him open, mouth soft and patient, coaxing his lips apart as his tongue slipped past in a slow, deliberate sweep, and this time Xie Lian shyly responded. He licked back once hesitantly against Hua Cheng’s lower lip, then retreated, breathing fast.

Hua Cheng nearly choked.

“Gege-”

“Was that wrong?”

“No,” Hua Cheng panted. “Not at all. Again.”

Blushing furiously, Xie Lian leaned in again. He pressed a series of little kisses to Hua Cheng’s mouth, mimicking what he’d been shown. One kiss, then another, each clumsy but so eager, so gentle, that Hua Cheng, to stop himself from flipping Xie Lian over, had to reach his other hand up to grip the bedframe, white-knuckled, shattering the wood beneath his fists.

“You’re trembling,” Xie Lian said softly, noticing the strain in his shoulders.

“You’re too good,” Hua Cheng growls. “Do you know how many times I’ve imagined this? And it’s worse, so much worse, because you’re actually like this. You’re actually this innocent.”

“Is that a good thing?” 

Hua Cheng let out a laugh that was more groan than anything else. “It’s the worst. It’s my favorite thing in the world.”

The next kiss was wetter, messier—Xie Lian licking inside his mouth with delicate confusion, trying to mimic what he felt, and Hua Cheng, shaking and moaning, clenched down so hard the carved wooden frame beneath his hands cracked in half.

Xie Lian pulled back with a jerk, staring at the broken bedframe… “San Lang?”

His eyes slowly returned to Hua Cheng’s, lips kiss-swollen, eyes wide with innocent alarm.

Hua Cheng wasn’t looking at the splintered wood. His gaze was fixed entirely on Xie Lian's flushed face, sweat breaking along his temple, eye wild and barely holding himself together.

“…It’s nothing,” he said hoarsely. “Please. Keep going.”

“San Lang?” Xie Lian whispered again, blinking up at him with unguarded concern. “Is… something wrong?”

Hua Cheng exhaled like he was trying to slow the spin of the universe. “No,” he murmured, his voice a breathy rasp. “Nothing’s wrong, gege. Everything is… perfect.”

Xie Lian tilted his head slightly, his nose brushing Hua Cheng’s cheek. “Then why do you look like you’re in pain?”

Hua Cheng gave a shaky laugh, his eye closing. “Because I am,” he admitted. “But it’s the kind of pain I’d offer incense to. The best kind.”

Xie Lian didn’t understand. Of course he didn’t. But he smiled affectionately anyway and brushed a strand of hair behind Hua Cheng’s ear in a gesture so gentle it nearly undid him.

Hua Cheng leaned forward, pressing their lips together again. His hand cradled the back of Xie Lian’s head now, guiding him gently as he tilted his own mouth, deepening the kiss by degrees, coaxing, inviting. And then—

Then Hua Cheng broke away from his mouth and kissed the corner instead.

Xie Lian froze slightly, unsure if that meant something had gone wrong, but then Hua Cheng’s lips trailed to his cheek. Then to the edge of his jaw.

“S-San Lang?”

Hua Cheng bent his head and pressed a kiss to the side of Xie Lian’s throat, just a gentle brush of lips over skin.

Xie Lian gasped.

He jerked, fingers digging into Hua Cheng’s shoulders. “San Lang-!”

“Yes, gege,” he murmured. “Just want to kiss you. Just here.” He pressed his lips lower, toward the dip of his shoulder, then back up again toward the arch of his throat. He kissed beneath his ear. Behind it. He nuzzled into the soft place where jaw met neck, and when Xie Lian gasped again, he flicked his tongue there—once, just barely.

Xie Lian jolted.

“I-!” He clapped a hand to his neck, flustered and wide-eyed. “That- what was that?”

Hua Cheng pulled back just enough to see his face. His grin was wicked and soft. “Just a taste.”

“You- licked me.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

Hua Cheng lowered his mouth again and murmured directly against his skin, “Because you taste good.” He kissed the side of Xie Lian’s neck once again, soft and slow, then again, open-mouthed this time, his breath hot and lingering, mouth sucking. 

Then—he bit.

Xie Lian gasped, spine arching ever so slightly. His body jerked like he meant to pull back, but Hua Cheng’s arm held him firm.

It wasn’t painful, not really, but it was shocking. The suction was strong, a strange pull that made his pulse race. Hua Cheng didn’t stop—he sucked slowly, deliberately, dragging his tongue over the spot in between his clamped teeth. Then, after a few seconds, he pulled back, and Xie Lian could feel the throb where Hua Cheng’s mouth had been.

“That one will leave a mark,” he murmured, lips grazing the tender spot he’d just bitten.

“A… mark?” Xie Lian echoed, dazed.

“Bite marks. Kisses. Little bruises.” Hua Cheng’s eye glittered as he leaned in again, brushing his nose along Xie Lian’s jaw. “Signs that I was here. That I touched you. That you’re mine.”

Xie Lian’s mouth parted in flustered disbelief. “S-San Lang…”

“Don’t worry, gege,” Hua Cheng purred. “Only I’ll see them.”

He licked lightly over the mark, soothing, and Xie Lian shivered in his lap.

“That spot’s sensitive,” Hua Cheng murmured. “The skin is thin. Lots of nerves. It makes the heart beat faster.”

Xie Lian made a soft, bewildered noise. “Is this… part of kissing too?”

“It can be,” Hua Cheng said, nuzzling into the curve of his neck. “There are all kinds of kisses, gege. Some are soft. Some are… a little wicked.”

Xie Lian paused. His face was flushed deep pink now, lashes fluttering as he stared down at Hua Cheng with wide, overwhelmed eyes. “It’s just… I didn’t know you could kiss other places.”

Hua Cheng’s eye fluttered shut. “Oh, gege,” he said, voice thick with something barely contained. “You have no idea.” Then, instead of answering, he kissed him again on the lips this time, slow and deep and aching. Xie Lian melted instantly, arms slipping up around Hua Cheng’s neck, mouth parting instinctively as he leaned in.

He was still clumsy. Still too innocent. He gave little kitten licks at Hua Cheng’s mouth when he tried to deepen the kiss, and it made Hua Cheng groan into him—low and desperate, like a man being driven to the edge by nothing but sweetness. His hands slid up Xie Lian’s sides as their mouths moved together, and then, he gripped the edge of Xie Lian’s robe and gave a firm tug. The fabric parted with a whisper, slipping down over his shoulders.

Xie Lian gasped and immediately tried to pull the edges back around himself, his face flaming. Hua Cheng stilled at once, one hand stroking his arm in slow, soothing circles. “Shh… Is this okay?” he murmured, voice low and tender.

Xie Lian hesitated, trembling, every instinct screaming for modesty, but the heat curling through him was stronger. “…Y-Yes,” he whispered, barely audible, and let the robe fall open back again, baring his shoulders, arms, and chest.

A low, shaky exhale slipped from Hua Cheng, as if the sight alone had stolen the air from his lungs. His eye roved over him with a ravenous hunger as his fingers traced the elegant line of Xie Lian’s throat, sliding down to his collarbone before flicking lightly over a soft pink nipple.

Xie Lian arched faintly at the touch, startled. “San Lang-”

“Shh,” Hua Cheng whispered. “Don’t worry. I’m just touching. You can tell me to stop anytime.”

Xie Lian flushed deep red, trembling faintly in Hua Cheng’s lap. “It’s hot,” he whispered.

Hua Cheng laughed softly against his lips. “It’ll get hotter.”

Now that both shoulders of Xie Lian’s robes had slipped down completely, Hua Cheng began to make use of it. One hand sliding up Xie Lian’s spine to cup the nape of his neck, he kissed across the line of his exposed collarbone, down toward the soft dip beneath it. Then—slowly, slowly—he opened his mouth and bit, just a little.

Xie Lian gasped again, but this time, he didn’t pull away.

He whimpered—quiet, and dazed—and Hua Cheng soothed the spot immediately with his tongue, murmuring praises between kisses. “You’re so sweet, gege. So perfect.”

He kissed lower, toward the center of Xie Lian’s chest, pulling the robes apart just enough to reach the delicate skin there. Another kiss. Another bite. This one harder.

Xie Lian flinched.

Hua Cheng immediately paused. “Too much?”

Xie Lian blinked down at him, flustered and pink and utterly undone. “…No”

“Good,” Hua Cheng whispered. He pressed more kisses there, over Xie Lian’s ribs, up the center of his chest, to the place just beneath his throat. He moved like a man on a pilgrimage, kissing with his whole body, his whole heart. When he bit, it was always followed by soft kisses. When he sucked, it was slow and deliberate—leaving visible red marks blooming like flowers in his wake. He sucked over the skin just beneath his navel and then up again, grazing over one of Xie Lian’s nipples with his mouth—

Xie Lian jerked.

“N-not, not- there?!”

Hua Cheng looked up, mischievous. “Why not?”

“I—I didn’t know it would feel like that.”

“Like what,” Hua Cheng purred, doing it again, this time kissing and sucking lightly before moving to the other, letting his teeth graze just enough to make Xie Lian shiver. He nipped delicately, leaving the faintest mark blooming on the tender skin.

Xie Lian was panting now, his head tilted back, hands gripping Hua Cheng’s shoulders. His robes were open halfway down his chest, his body painted in Hua Cheng’s devotion. He squirmed slightly, trying to adjust his posture, only to inadvertently grind down on the firm muscle of Hua Cheng’s thigh.

“Ah-”

He stilled.

There was pressure. A firm rub between his legs, friction from his own accidental movement that made something inside him curl tight and warm.

He blinked, confused.

“San Lang?”

“Yes, gege?” Hua Cheng’s voice was rough, breath shallow, his hands resting just behind Xie Lian’s thighs.

“I… I think…” Xie Lian shifted again experimentally, and gasped when the ache between his legs deepened. “Something feels… good. There.”

Hua Cheng’s head tipped back against the broken headboard, eye fluttering shut. He looked utterly wrecked, like something sacred was unraveling inside him. His hands trembled where they gripped Xie Lian’s thighs. “It’s supposed to,” Hua Cheng said hoarsely. “It means your body wants me.”

Xie Lian whimpered. “It aches.”

“I know,” Hua Cheng whispered, his thumb stroking up Xie Lian’s skin as he shifted one leg slightly, pressing it more firmly beneath him. “You’re wet, aren’t you?”

Xie Lian made a sound halfway between a gasp and a protest, hiding his face in Hua Cheng’s hair. “You can’t just say things like that…”

“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Hua Cheng’s voice, though teasing, trembled with barely checked hunger.

Xie Lian whimpered again, but the way his hips shifted said enough. He couldn’t stop the slow, instinctive rocking seeking that friction, that relief. His breath was uneven now, soft moans slipping from his lips without thought.

Hua Cheng exhaled sharply against his neck. “You don’t even know what you’re doing to me.”

Xie Lian was panting faintly now, cheeks glowing, lips damp and parted as he pressed closer, his hips still rocking helplessly in small, desperate motions. Every movement sent a pulse of aching pleasure between his thighs, and he didn’t even understand why—only that he couldn’t seem to stop.

It was too much. And not enough.

“San Lang,” he whispered again, voice soft and unsteady. “I don’t- what are we even doing?”

Hua Cheng pressed a kiss to his temple, then another to the corner of his eye, his voice low and filled with dark amusement. “What does it feel like we’re doing, gege?”

“I don’t know!” Xie Lian said, half a wail. “That’s the problem! You keep doing things that feel good and saying things that make it worse and now everything’s hot and tight and I feel like I’m going to burst and-”

Hua Cheng laughed under his breath, wrecked and fond. “Poor gege,” he murmured, letting one hand slide up to cradle the back of Xie Lian’s head. “You really have no idea, do you?”

“I told you I didn’t!” Xie Lian said, indignant, then let out a squeak as Hua Cheng suddenly shifted beneath him—one hand cradling the back of his head, the other bracing them both as he tipped Xie Lian gently backward.

“Wait-ah-!”

The world tilted. His back hit the silken sheets spread out over the floor.

Now Hua Cheng was leaning over him, hair spilling like black silk over his shoulders, knee still between Xie Lian’s thighs, his body heavy and warm and everywhere. The air left Xie Lian’s lungs. His robes had fallen open completely now, only the sheer inner layer still draped loosely over his stomach. His hair pooled around him like a dark halo, half-tied, half-tousled. His chest rose and fell with every breath—marked, flushed, kissed raw.

Hua Cheng knelt over him, staring.

Xie Lian looked like something mythic. Something celestial, half-undone by desire, trembling with wonder.

“San Lang…?” he whispered, suddenly self-conscious under the weight of that gaze.

Hua Cheng lowered himself slowly, his hands braced on either side of Xie Lian’s head. His body hovered just above, never pressing down, but close enough that Xie Lian could feel the heat of him, the tension in his muscles, the trembling restraint.

Then—quietly, hoarsely—he said:

“You’re so beautiful. It’s hard to breathe.”

Xie Lian made a strangled sound in his throat as Hua Cheng bent down again and began kissing him, languid and indulgent, his hair trailing over Xie Lian’s skin like silk. He pressed his lips to every inch of exposed skin—across his chest, over his ribs, down his stomach. His hands pushed the sheer inner robe aside now, baring Xie Lian fully from the waist up. When Xie Lian instinctively moved to cover himself, Hua Cheng gently caught his wrists and pinned them to the sides—just loosely, easily escaped.

“Let me see you, gege.”

“San Lang… San Lang…” he murmured, lost. “Why does it feel like… like you’re trying to eat me?”

Hua Cheng groaned into his skin, his laughter muffled and entirely too pleased. “That’s because I am, gege.”

He mouthed at the curve of Xie Lian’s waist. “Didn’t you know?,” he said, teasing. “You taste divine.”

“You’re making fun of me,” Xie Lian mumbled, hiding his face behind one arm.

“I would never.” 

Xie Lian opened his mouth to protest, but it turned into a sharp gasp as Hua Cheng bit him again—lower now, just above his navel. Not hard, but lingering. Then his tongue followed, slow and hot, licking over the mark. Xie Lian’s legs shifted restlessly under Hua Cheng’s weight, and—

“Oh,” he whimpered.

His hips had moved again. Slipped into a subtle, instinctive grind that rubbed the aching place between his legs right against the firm pressure of Hua Cheng’s thigh.

His eyes fluttered. He did it again. Just once.

Hua Cheng noticed instantly. He leaned up, gaze ravenous, one hand sliding under Xie Lian’s thigh to help guide his movement.

“Fuck. Can’t even stay still, can you?” he whispered, low and ragged at his ear, breath hot.

“I- don’t understand,” Xie Lian gasped, head tilting back against the pillow. His legs had spread open slightly without him realizing. “It aches. San Lang, it aches so bad-”

“I know, gege,” Hua Cheng said, and he sounded ruined. His voice was low, hoarse, barely holding together. “I’ll make the ache go away, okay?” His hands slid down—one bracing Xie Lian’s hip, the other brushing lower, dragging lightly over the exposed skin of his stomach, thumbs sliding under the thin band of silk at his waist.

Xie Lian flinched, the muscles in his belly seizing. “H-hold on,” he whispered, panicking slightly. “San Lang- where are you-?”

“Shhh.” Hua Cheng kissed his cheek. His voice was warm, deep, coaxing. “Just touching, gege. I’ll stop if you want.”

“I-” Xie Lian’s breath stuttered. His thighs clenched, trying to close. “That’s- that place-”

“I know.” Hua Cheng’s lips brushed his temple. “I’ve been dreaming of this place.”

And then, slowly, his hand slid beneath the last silk barrier, the tips of his fingers just barely brushing over the soft folds between Xie Lian's legs, warm and already slick with nerves and heat.

Xie Lian made a sound so high it barely registered as human, “San Lang!”

His whole body jolted. His legs tensed, pressing closed instinctively as he tried to sit up.

Hua Cheng simply reached out and pressed one hand against Xie Lian’s chest, steadying him. The other hand remained very still, cupped softly between his thighs, under the fabric and barely touching, but there.

Hua Cheng snarled—low and deep, barely holding himself together.

“Sweet heavens,” he rasped. “You’re soaked…”

“I-!! I didn’t mean to be!”

Hua Cheng’s lips curled wickedly. “It’s not something you do, gege,” and his hand finally moved—just the lightest stroke along the slick seam of heat, dragging between the soft folds, “It’s something your body does when it wants mine.”

He leaned down again, pressing a kiss to Xie Lian’s collarbone. Then another, to his throat. Then to the side of his flushed, trembling cheek, and all the while, his fingers caressed between his legs—light, lazy strokes over soft, swollen folds that had never been touched like this before. He found the delicate nub of his clit and brushed it with the barest pressure.

Xie Lian’s entire body arched.

“Oh-!” His hands flew up, gripping Hua Cheng’s shoulders like he might dissolve into the blanket-strewn floor. “That- what was that-?!”

“A kiss,” Hua Cheng whispered, breath hot at his ear. “From my fingers this time.”

“You-!!”

Xie Lian squirmed again, face buried in his arm, trying to muffle the overwhelmed whines escaping his throat. His hips rolled despite himself, chasing the touch, his thighs trembling, slick growing between them. “I don’t understand- why it feels like this- why it feels so good-”

“Because it’s supposed to,” Hua Cheng said. “This part of you-” his fingers stroked again, gently, reverently, “-is made to feel good. To be touched. Kissed. Loved.”

His fingers dragged slowly through the slick heat, never pushing in, just petting, stroking, learning. Every time he passed over the swollen little pearl above, Xie Lian bucked and whimpered and buried his face in Hua Cheng’s hair like he was dying.

“You’re so sensitive here, gege,” Hua Cheng murmured against his throat. “It makes you cry, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not crying,” Xie Lian said immediately, though his eyes were wet. “I’m not-”

“You are,” Hua Cheng said, kissing one of his tears away. His fingers hooked into the waistband of Xie Lian’s pants and peeled them down in a slow, deliberate drag, pressing open-mouthed kisses down the soft line of his torso with every inch of revealed skin, whispering maddening things into his skin, moving lower with every murmur.

Lower than Xie Lian had ever imagined someone could go.

“San Lang,” he whispered, voice fraying. “Where are you… going?” 

Hua Cheng looked up from between his thighs, his hair spilling over the backs of Xie Lian’s knees, his palms stroking along the soft skin of his inner thighs, parting them even further.

His eye was dark. Glowing. Devout.

“You’re perfect. You’re perfect.” he whispered, voice wrecked. And then he kissed the inside of his thigh.

Xie Lian jolted. His hips twisted in panic. “W-Wait, wait! You can’t- you can’t kiss me there!,” he cried as Hua Cheng’s tongue flicked out, slowly dragging up the length of his soaked folds.

Xie Lian jerked. “San- Lang-!”

Hua Cheng paused only to murmur hoarsely, “Do you want me to stop?”—though the wild, glazed look in his eye said he couldn’t, even if he tried. His fingers flexed where they held Xie Lian’s trembling thighs open. He licked again, slower this time—languid, tasting every inch, savoring the slick that coated him like nectar.

Xie Lian half-sat up, flushed and frantic. “S-San Lang, you should… ah- p-people don’t… you can’t put your mouth there!” His voice was a stuttering, overwhelmed mess, caught between shame and the unbearable pull of pleasure.

Hua Cheng looked up at him from between his thighs, his hair in disarray, lips already glistening.

“I can,” he rasped, “and I am.” His voice dipped lower, a rough, desperate growl as his grip on Xie Lian’s thighs tightened. “Now… do you want me to stop? ”

Xie Lian froze, disbelief flickering across his tear-bright eyes. His hand trembled as he bit down on his knuckles, chest heaving, and with a tiny, shivering sniffle, he shook his head. No.

Hua Cheng’s mouth curved into a dark, unhinged smile—and he dove in.

His tongue spread Xie Lian apart, licking into the soft folds of his cunt, wet and shameless. He flattened his mouth over him and sucked on his clit, slow and indulgent, like he was drinking from a sacred spring.

Xie Lian screamed.

He didn’t mean to. The sound just ripped out of his throat—raw, humiliated, desperate. His hands flew down, trying to push at Hua Cheng’s head, to close his thighs, to do something, but—

Hua Cheng caught his wrists with terrifying ease. Not cruelly. Just firmly. 

“Don’t stop me, gege,” he whispered, lifting his head only barely. “Please. Let me have this.”

“San Lang, I can’t- I really can’t-!”

“You can,” Hua Cheng moaned, dragging his tongue slowly through the slick mess again. His tongue traced deep, rhythmic strokes, up and down, circling the swollen nub at the top, flicking it, tasting every inch of slick and heat that poured from Xie Lian’s untouched core.

Xie Lian was wailing now—high, flustered sounds spilling into the cushion beside his head as he buried his face into it.

“This is wrong,” he moaned. “It’s so- dirty-!”

“It’s perfect,” Hua Cheng growled low in his throat, spreading him wider.

His tongue slipped lower, teasing the fluttering entrance of his cunt, and when he licked into him—shallow, slow, obscenely wet—Xie Lian convulsed.

He tongued him slowly, licking into his hole and sucking on his clit in turns. Every motion was smooth, practiced, shameless. Hua Cheng ate him out like he worshipped him—like he’d waited centuries for this exact moment. When Xie Lian tried to twist away, he gripped his hips and dragged him back. When Xie Lian sobbed into the pillow, trembling from how unbearably good it felt, Hua Cheng moaned low against his heat like he was being fed mana from heaven.

At one point, Xie Lian tried again to pull away.

“Stay still,” Hua Cheng growled. 

Xie Lian whimpered. “It’s too much- it’s too much!”

And it was.

Because every time he thought it couldn’t get worse, Hua Cheng did something new. A flick of tongue in a place that made Xie Lian see stars. A slow, steady suction that made him cry out and shake. A teasing pause—only to begin again with renewed hunger, dragging him to the edge of some unbearable peak before pulling away.

Over and over.

He was gasping. Crying. Eyes wet and unfocused, thighs trembling so hard he thought they’d snap.

His body kept building something, something tight, hot, unbearable in his belly—and then not letting him fall.

Because each time he got close, Hua Cheng would stop.

Kiss his thighs instead.

Lick at his inner knee.

Start over.

“C-Cruel-” Xie Lian sobbed after the fourth time this happened. “You’re… you’re so cruel-!”

“I’m being kind,” Hua Cheng murmured, kissing the inside of his thigh. “You don’t even know what you’re about to feel, but your body’s almost there.”

“There- where?!”

“To the edge,” Hua Cheng said, almost feverish, his eye dark and shining as he gazed up at the sight of Xie Lian spread open beneath him. “Where it breaks. Where you fall. Where I get to take you.”

Xie Lian sobbed again, lost “I don’t know what you’re-!”

“You’ll know,” Hua Cheng groaned, sounding nearly wrecked himself as he kissed the slick mess between Xie Lian’s thighs, mouthing gently at his folds, breaths hot and uneven, but never touching the clit—edging him deliberately. Again. “You’ll know.”

Xie Lian lost track of time.

Lost track of everything.

He cried out over and over, whining, squirming, trying to close his legs and escape—but Hua Cheng would just spread him wider, tongue sinking deeper, drinking him in with messy, depraved joy.

“Please-!” Xie Lian cried, tears spilling relentlessly down his cheek. “Please, I- I don’t care anymore- I don’t care- just let me- please-!” 

—Then Hua Cheng took pity on him.

His mouth wrapped around Xie Lian’s clit, and he sucked.

Hard.

Xie Lian’s back bowed like a bowstring. His vision went white, body convulsing, legs shaking, back arched clean off the duvet. His hands scrabbled for something, anything, to hold onto, but Hua Cheng kept him pinned, still licking him through the fall, rough and greedy, savoring the taste of his ruin.

Xie Lian didn’t even know what it was. It felt like burning, like falling, like dissolving into liquid fire. Like Hua Cheng had reached inside him and flipped something open he hadn’t known existed. Like every nerve had caught flame and bloomed into stars.

He screamed his name. Over and over.

“San Lang- San Lang- San Lang-!!”

And when it was over—when his body finally sagged back into the cushions cocooning him, boneless and stunned—Xie Lian could only pant, wide-eyed and dazed, tears streaking down his temples.

Hua Cheng rose slowly. His mouth was slick. His cheeks were flushed. His eye glowed—like a demon in the dark.

“You came,” he whispered. “Gege, you came.”

Xie Lian lay there, utterly wrecked—his chest rising and falling like a storm, his legs still twitching, his hands fisting helplessly in the sheets.

“…What was that?” Xie Lian whispered.

“An orgasm,” Hua Cheng said adoringly. “Your first.”

Xie Lian blinked at the ceiling. Shuddered.

“Oh,” he said faintly.

And then he turned and buried his face in the pillow.

Hua Cheng laughed softly—feral, elated, in love.

He leaned over and kissed the back of Xie Lian’s neck.

“Don’t worry, gege,” he whispered. “I’ll give you as many more as you want.”

Xie Lian had no response to that as he lay sprawled across the pillows, thighs still quivering faintly where Hua Cheng had parted them, and a languid, boneless heaviness had taken over his limbs. Hua Cheng leaned over him, pressing a kiss to his damp hair, lingering there like he couldn’t stop touching him.

After a long, quiet moment, Xie Lian murmured, voice hoarse but soft, “What about you?”

Hua Cheng stilled. For a heartbeat, he didn’t answer, his jaw tightening as though confining something. Then he let out a slow breath and forced a soft smile, brushing his thumb over Xie Lian’s cheek. “Don’t worry about me, gege. I’m perfectly happy. I got to taste you, to make you feel good. That’s more than enough for me. You were… so brave for me.”

Xie Lian blinked up at him, still flushed, but his brows pinched with stubbornness. “But… I want you to feel this good too.”

Hua Cheng’s voice dropped lower, a rough edge to it now as he whispered, “I feel very good.”

“But…” Xie Lian hesitated, turning pink. “You didn’t feel… that … right?” He shifted shyly, unable to say the word, eyes darting away.

Understanding flickered in Hua Cheng’s single eye, and something dark and untamed curled beneath it. He leaned down, kissing the corner of Xie Lian’s lips, voice deep and soft. “I promise, I’m fine. I can… take care of it later.”

“Take care of it… later?” Xie Lian repeated, confused, tilting his head in innocent curiosity.

Hua Cheng made a low, choked sound in his throat, his fingers flexing against Xie Lian’s hip. He was flushed in a way that made him look wild, his self-restraint hanging by a thread. “Gege… are you familiar with a man’s... different kind of… special place? Do you know what it looks like?”

Xie Lian’s eyes went wide, and he shook his head quickly. “I… no. My part was always… different. And I was never allowed in a room with another man like that, so… I’ve never seen what another man’s…”

Hua Cheng’s eye darkened, and a low, almost feral rumble left his chest. “Good,” he muttered, possessive, just the thought of anyone else—

He took a deep breath, cutting that train of thought before it got the chance to form fully. Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled low and heavy, as if the sky itself was holding its breath with them, echoing the heat and tension coiled in the room.

He leaned in closer, his voice soft, coaxing. “It’s bigger… longer than yours. Harder. Different.”

Xie Lian swallowed, pink dusting his cheeks. “…Can I see?”

Hua Cheng’s breath caught. His throat worked as he swallowed hard, and then he nodded, dazed, as if Xie Lian had just handed him the heavens.

Shifting slowly, he knelt back, still between Xie Lian’s splayed legs. Xie Lian watched with wide, curious eyes as Hua Cheng hooked his thumbs into his waistband and began to slide his pants down. Inch by inch, he exposed pale skin, the hard, flushed length of his cock springing free. His hand wrapped around it instinctively, giving it a slow, deliberate stroke as his gaze raked down the entirety of Xie Lian’s bare, trembling body.

“My special place,” he rasped, almost to himself, voice broken. “All yours.”

Xie Lian’s lips parted as a stunned little sound escaped him. “I-It’s… huge!” he blurted, then quickly fumbled, face turning crimson. “I mean- i-is it supposed to be… this big?”

Hua Cheng let out a low, dark chuckle, his voice rough with amusement and hunger. “Usually not.”

Xie Lian’s eyes went round, his face heating in shock. “San Lang… why does it look so… angry?” The question was innocently asked, but it made Hua Cheng shudder visibly.

Hua Cheng let out a low, helpless laugh again, his thumb brushing over the slick head as he gave another slow stroke. “Because of you, gege. All because of you.” His voice was strained, like he was teetering on the edge of losing control. “You made me like this.”

Xie Lian swallowed hard, unable to look away.

“When I said I’d take care of it later,” Hua Cheng said, hand moving up and down in a slow, tortured rhythm, “I meant… like this. Stroking myself. Thinking about you. Faster… and faster… until I come imagining your face, your voice… your body…”

Xie Lian covered his mouth with his hand, mortified. “Y-you’ve done that before?”

Hua Cheng’s lips curved in a sinful, unrepentant smile. “Many times. Over eight hundred years, I’ve touched myself like this… imagining you in my arms. Against me. Under me. Always you.”

Xie Lian’s face was on fire, his thighs pressing together instinctively, seeking some scrap of modesty or relief, only to be stopped by Hua Cheng’s solid body between them, “A-and… is that what you’re going to do right now?”

“Yes,” Hua Cheng said immediately, voice rough. “You can keeping lying like this, gege. And I’ll take care of myself… we don’t have to-” He cut himself off, jaw tightening, stroking himself slower as if to hold back.

“We don’t have to… what?” Xie Lian whispered, heart hammering.

Hua Cheng opened his eye, molten and desperate, and forced the words out like a groan. “We don’t have to go all the way.”

“San Lang… w-what does it mean to… go all the way?” Xie Lian whispered, his voice shy and trembling, every syllable betraying that he knew he was stepping into dangerous territory yet again—but some wanton part of him couldn’t stop from asking.

Hua Cheng let out a shaky breath and lifted one hand to scrub down his face, as if trying to tame the storm inside him. Then he let it fall, fingers trailing down to Xie Lian’s slick heat, just barely dipping inside his tight entrance. His voice was rough silk.

“It means… if we went all the way… my special place would go inside yours,” he murmured, gaze burning into Xie Lian’s. “The same way my tongue did earlier… only deeper.”

Xie Lian’s eyes flew wide. “In— inside?!”

Hua Cheng nodded slowly, that feral, near-demonic smirk curling his lips again as he let one finger press into Xie Lian’s slick entrance. He teased him with a slow push up to the knuckle, savoring the way Xie Lian trembled around him.

“But San Lang!” Xie Lian yelped, mortified. “There’s no space!”

Hua Cheng’s smirk deepened as he leaned in, his fingers lazily petting the soaked heat between Xie Lian’s trembling thighs. His voice dropped to a sinful whisper against the shell of his ear, low and coaxing, almost poetic in its madness. 

“I’ll make space,” he murmured, “I’ll coax you open with my fingers, stretch you until your body forgets what it was ever like without them.”

The words trembled against Xie Lian’s skin like a spell, and before he could even respond, Hua Cheng’s tongue dragged a long, wet lick up the shell of his ear, leaving him trembling and breathless.

With a tiny shiver, he lifted both hands to cover his face, nodding slowly from behind his fingers. His voice was muffled and trembling, but the words escaped in surrender.

“… I-I want to”

For a heartbeat, Hua Cheng went utterly still, like the world had narrowed to nothing but Xie Lian. He pressed a reverent kiss to Xie Lian’s knuckles, then slid one finger into his slick heat, slow but unyielding. His composure shattered in a dark, low groan. “Ah… look at you,” he rasped, voice stripped of all pretense now. “Sucking my finger in like this. So fucking greedy, gege.”

“San Lang!” Xie Lian wailed in mortification, peeking out from behind his fingers with wide, scandalized eyes. He gave a helpless little smack to Hua Cheng’s shoulder, voice breaking into a whimper. “I-I can’t help it!”

Hua Cheng caught that hand in his own and slammed it firmly down onto the silken sheets, pinning him. His eye glinted with hunger as he loomed over Xie Lian. “Do you know why your little pussy is behaving so indecently?”

Xie Lian squeaked, flailing half-heartedly. “San Lang, stop saying things like that-!”

Hua Cheng bent until his lips brushed the shell of his ear, his whisper molten and filthy. “It’s getting wet and open like this… because it’s preparing itself for me.”

Xie Lian let out a strangled little cry, his whole face blazing as he twisted against the sheets, hiding behind his arm, the one not pinned over his head, like he could disappear into the ground from sheer mortification.

Hua Cheng let out a low, indulgent chuckle, sliding his finger deeper as he leaned in to lick a slow stripe along Xie Lian’s burning cheek. “I’m sorry, gege. You’re doing so well. So good for me.”

He pushed in a second finger, groaning softly as the tight heat clamped around him. “Tighter than I even dreamed…” He had to pause, breathing deep through his nose to keep from cursing aloud as he slowly scissored his fingers, working Xie Lian open inch by inch, finally finding the spot inside him that made Xie Lian wail, his back arching clear off the blankets.

“Oh- there-!”

“Here?” Hua Cheng growled, pressing there again. “You like it when I touch you here?”

Xie Lian couldn’t answer.

He could only sob, overwhelmed, his body slick and flushed and boneless. Hua Cheng fucked him slow and deep with his fingers, adding another, curling them all sweetly against that place until Xie Lian was reduced to trembling moans, body arching helplessly into every gentle, stretching thrust.

“Please- please don’t- please don’t stop-”

“Which is it?” Hua Cheng murmured. “Stop, or don’t stop?”

“I don’t know!” Xie Lian gasped, his chest heaving, a high, desperate whimper tearing from his throat. “S-San Lang- ah! Something… something’s coming-!” he panted, voice breaking with every word.

Hua Cheng’s eye darkened, voice rough with need. “You are,” he growled, fingers plunging in to the hilt as he curved them just right, grinding mercilessly against the soft, sensitive spot inside him. “You’re going to come for me again, gege.”

Xie Lian writhed, the sensation overwhelming, his bound hand trembling as he instinctively tried to struggle—but was pinned down even tighter.

“Ah-! I-I can’t-!” Xie Lian cried, eyes squeezing shut, his voice going breathless and thin.

“Of course you can,” Hua Cheng’s voice dropped into a silky, venomous purr—mockingly tender, as he bent and kissed the underside of Xie Lian’s jaw, open-mouthed and possessive. 

“You’ll come on my hand while I hold you open like this until you soak me.” His thumb dragged up and circled that sensitive little bud again, and Xie Lian broke.

He screamed his climax into Hua Cheng’s shoulder, body arching violently, thighs locking tight around Hua Cheng’s hips as he shattered. The heat inside him clamped down on Hua Cheng’s fingers in waves, pulsing, clenching, flooding.

And still, Hua Cheng didn’t stop.

He kept his fingers inside, working him through it, drawing out every last tremor of pleasure until Xie Lian was sobbing, breath catching with every spasm, every electric twitch of sensation.

By the time he collapsed, Hua Cheng’s hand was soaked. His mouth was wet. His face was flushed deep red, and his arms were visibly trembling. The fingers slipped free, and Xie Lian felt the wet drag of them leave his entrance, his cunt still pulsing from aftershocks. 

Something hot and hard was grinding against the back of his thigh in frantic, shallow motions. He blinked through the haze, dazedly turning his head to see Hua Cheng above him, hair mussed, lips parted, his single eye dark with a desperate, almost feral need as he rutted against Xie Lian like a man starved.

“Gege,” Hua Cheng said, and his voice was different now—wrecked, unhinged, held together only by sheer will. “I can’t… I can’t anymore.”

Xie Lian blinked, dazed. “Can’t… what?”

Then—he felt it.

The head of Hua Cheng’s cock, hot and heavy, dragging up along his soaked folds.

Xie Lian gasped—legs trying to snap shut on instinct and without really meaning to—but Hua Cheng’s hands caught his thighs, spreading them again, wider than before. His mouth hovered over his lover’s lips, desperate, breathless.

“I need to be inside you,” he licked into Xie Lian’s parted lips, coaxing, trembling. His hands cupped his face with a gentleness that nearly broke Xie Lian’s heart. And when he pulled back, their foreheads pressed together, both of them wrecked. 

“Please, gege,” he begged, losing all composure. “Please let me have you.”

Xie Lian’s lashes fluttered.

His heart pounded.

And after a long, slow pause—

“…Okay,” he whispered.

“Are you sure?” Hua Cheng whispered again, breathing ragged, his voice a low, trembling growl. He lined himself up, cock poised at his entrance, the tip just barely nudging inside—hot, thick, and impossible. “Please- if you want me to stop, say it now- because once I’m inside you, I’m not going to.”

Xie Lian blinked up at him, lips swollen, eyes hazy with tears and overstimulation, body twitching under him. He was still open from Hua Cheng’s fingers, still dripping wet, still trembling with aftershocks from the last orgasm—but when Hua Cheng had pressed in just the tip, even that small stretch had made his mind crack.

“My San Lang…” he breathed, voice so quiet it was nearly lost. “Take me. Please.”

Hua Cheng surged forward, pinning both of Xie Lian’s hands above his head as he pressed his feverish body flush against him, their chests colliding. He began to push in. The thick head of his cock parted Xie Lian’s slick folds with agonizing care, stretching his entrance, dragging inch by inch into that trembling, unused heat. Xie Lian gasped, “Big- so big-”

“You’re perfect, gege. Just a little more.” Hua Cheng whispered, and kissed his cheek. 

Xie Lian was panting, moaning helplessly, his legs trembling, his body instinctively trying to clamp down—but Hua Cheng just cooed sweetly to him, releasing his wrists to stroke his side now, licking tears from his lashes as he pushed deeper.

The stretch burned.

But the fullness… the fullness was unlike anything Xie Lian had ever known.

Every inch slid deeper, forcing him open, making his walls flutter and clench, slick gushing around Hua Cheng’s length. Xie Lian trembled beneath him, tears slipping down his temples as he clung to Hua Cheng’s shoulders. “S-San Lang… are you… all the way in?” he whispered shakily, voice breaking with every ragged breath.

“Not yet… halfway there,” he rasped, fucking into him in slow, deliberate thrusts. One hand planted hard against the floor for balance, while the other hooked under Xie Lian's pliant thigh and lifted it higher, locking their bodies close.

Xie Lian whimpered, clawing weakly at Hua Cheng’s shoulders. “It’s… ah- so full… I-I’m going to break…”

“You won’t break, my love,” Hua Cheng whispered against his cheek, raining kisses across his face—his eyelids, his temple, the corner of his mouth—soft and worshipful even as his hips rolled with hungry insistence. “You’re taking me so well... your body was made to take mine…”

Then, with a guttural groan, Hua Cheng drove forward in one deep, final push, bottoming out completely. Xie Lian cried out, back arching, his entire body quivering. Hua Cheng hushed him with messy, urgent kisses, his mouth wet as he whispered filth against his lips.

He drew back and slammed into him harder, making Xie Lian cry out again, his hands scrambling to claw at the sheets as his body tried to twist away from the relentless intrusion. But Hua Cheng only growled, pinning him down with his body as he began to thrust again and again—rough, deep, messy, their bodies slapping together as he mouthed over Xie Lian’s face, slobbering kisses along his jaw and cheek. He angled his hips slightly and ground into him.

Xie Lian screamed.

“S-San Lang- what-?!”

“There,” Hua Cheng growled, slamming into that spot again. “Found it.”

He set a slow, grinding rhythm—fucking him deep and steady, making sure to hit that spot with every thrust. His hips rolled smoothly, dragging his cock in and out of that slick, needy heat, groaning every time Xie Lian clenched around him.

“I love you… my god, I love you- so tight- so mine,” he whispered and moaned alternately, his words a mix of worship and obscenity, as he reared back and began fucking Xie Lian in earnest—deep, rough strokes that made the silken sheets twist and wrinkle helplessly beneath their writhing bodies.

Xie Lian sobbed aloud, mouth open, tears running down his cheeks, thighs shaking.

“San Lang- San Lang-!”

“I’m here,” Hua Cheng groaned, slamming into him again. “You’re mine- you’re mine, gege- taking me so well, letting me fuck you, letting me ruin you-”

Xie Lian was gasping, crying, overwhelmed completely.

His cunt spasmed around Hua Cheng’s cock with every thrust, so slick and hot that Hua Cheng could barely hold himself back. He bent lower, mouth latching onto Xie Lian’s neck, biting down hard enough to leave marks—again, and again, and again.

“I love you,” he chanted. “I love you I love you I love you-”

And then—

He gripped Xie Lian's hips, thrust in harder—once, twice—and Xie Lian came with a scream, climaxing again, walls fluttering wildly around that thick cock inside him.

But Hua Cheng didn’t stop, rutting into him through his release, dragging him into oversensitivity, praising him between frantic kisses and low groans.

“P-Please… San Lang,” Xie Lian begged breathlessly, clinging to him. “Please… come…for me..”

Hua Cheng snarled. He slammed in once more, burying himself deep as he came, hot and thick, spurting inside Xie Lian’s cunt and groaning long and low into his throat.

He collapsed forward, sprawling over Xie Lian’s trembling body, both of them boneless, panting, and utterly spent. Their limbs tangled as the room filled only with their ragged breathing and the faint whisper of silk, the world reduced to heat, heartbeat, and the deep, dizzying happiness of finally being one.

After the high had passed and the last tremors of Xie Lian’s body stilled beneath him, Hua Cheng didn’t move.

Not for a long time.

He stayed nestled between Xie Lian’s legs, his cheek pressed to the warm, flushed skin of his shoulder, arms wrapped protectively around his waist. Their bodies were still slick and tangled, joined by the heat of what they’d just shared.

Xie Lian lay motionless in the center of the ruined silk sheets, robes long since discarded, the sheets tangled beneath his body, his legs still trembling faintly. His hair was a wreck—spread in wild, glossy ribbons across the pillows, some strands plastered to his flushed cheeks. Bite marks bloomed across his chest and thighs like pressed flowers, and between his legs, slick and seed slowly dripped onto the linens.

He wasn’t moving.

Not out of modesty.

But because he physically could not move.

“San Lang,” he whispered, voice hoarse.

“I’m here,” Hua Cheng murmured against his neck, soft and low.

Xie Lian shifted slightly, then immediately whined. “My… everything hurts.”

Hua Cheng’s heart melted, his hand stroking lazily down Xie Lian’s spine as he pressed a tender kiss to his damp hair. His voice was thick with love, but the words came out in a low, filthy murmur. “I know, my love. Your body’s been rearranged from the inside out, permanently molded to fit me… it’ll remember me every time you move now.” 

Xie Lian let out a soft, broken moan at the filthy words, trying to push Hua Cheng’s face away with a weak, trembling hand. 

Hua Cheng only caught his hand with ease, laughing low and warm, and pressed a lingering kiss to his palm. He slowly, gently eased out of him, and Xie Lian yelped, squirming, legs jerking weakly.

“Sensitive?” Hua Cheng cooed.

“You’re awful,” Xie Lian mumbled, cheeks bright red.

Hua Cheng leaned up on one elbow, brushing sweat-soaked strands of hair from Xie Lian’s forehead.

“You’re beautiful,” he said reverently, laying one last kiss on his nose before standing and stretching his arms above his head. His robe had long since been discarded, and he made no effort to hide how thoroughly undone he was—bite marks on his neck, scratch lines across his back, skin glowing with sweat.

Then he reached down and scooped Xie Lian up bridal-style.

Xie Lian squeaked, wrapping his arms around his neck.

“Wait- San Lang, I’m sticky-!”

“I know,” Hua Cheng said smugly. “That’s why I’m taking you to the bath.”

“I can walk-!”

“You can barely blink,” Hua Cheng said, kissing his forehead.

“I should help,” Xie Lian mumbled, pressing his face into Hua Cheng’s bare chest, curling into him like a kitten.

“Gege’s helped enough,” Hua Cheng said. “He laid there and made the most obscene noises I’ve ever heard. It was extremely helpful.”

Xie Lian whined into his skin. 

Hua Cheng carried him into the bathing chamber and lowered him into the heated water with the care of a priest placing a relic back on its pedestal.

Paradise Manor’s private pool glowed golden from floating lanterns, and outside, moonlight spilled over the lotus pond. The bathwater steamed gently, perfumed with rose petals. 

Xie Lian sank with a sigh, arms sliding over the marble edge, legs stretched out bonelessly. His hair spread behind him in a dark wave, drifting like seaweed. 

Hua Cheng reached for the jar of floral soap on the rim of the pool and began smoothing it gently over Xie Lian’s arms and shoulders. The scent of orchid and jasmine filled the steam.

“I feel like a dumpling being lovingly prepared for dinner,” Xie Lian muttered, voice muffled.

Hua Cheng leaned forward, lips brushing his nape. “You were dinner.”

“San Lang!”

Hua Cheng laughed.

“Lift your leg.”

“No…”

“Gege,” Hua Cheng warned, using the edge of a damp cloth to wipe between his legs with utmost care.

Xie Lian flinched, letting out a tiny, high noise. “Too much-!”

“Too sensitive?” Hua Cheng asked, clearly entertained.

“I’m going to explode!”

“You already did,” Hua Cheng said fondly. “Thrice.”

Xie Lian hurled a sponge at him; it hit Hua Cheng’s bare chest with a pathetic splat, sliding down uselessly while he only arched a brow and let out a low, knowing snicker.

But he worked quietly after that—bathing him, washing his hair, rubbing scented oil into his sore thighs and hips. His hands were steady, methodical, but no less tender. Every press of his palm over a bruise was a kiss in disguise.

Eventually, Xie Lian let himself melt completely.

He reclined in Hua Cheng’s arms like a spoiled prince, face flushed with bath steam and leftover arousal. When the bath was finished, Hua Cheng dried him carefully with a warm towel, then bundled him into a fresh robe, arms swaddled, hair towel-wrapped, lips pouty and eyes unfocused.

Hua Cheng gazed down at Xie Lian with a look so tender it was almost aching, his eye brimming with something raw and overwhelming that seemed to spill out of him despite himself.

Xie Lian flushed under that unbearably lovely gaze, shifting self-consciously against Hua Cheng’s chest. “…W-What?” he mumbled, voice small.

Hua Cheng only shook his head with a soft, helpless smile, saying nothing as he scooped Xie Lian up into his arms and carried him toward the bed—now magically mended, the frame no longer demolished from his earlier grip. He propped Xie Lian up on a pile of pillows like a sickly prince. Then he disappeared for a moment and returned with a small lacquered tray carrying a porcelain pitcher of cool water, slices of fruit, and a little bowl of sweetened rice. “Now. Eat.”

He held up a slice of chilled plum.

Xie Lian gave him a miserable, wounded look.

“I can’t chew.”

“You can,” Hua Cheng said, slipping the slice between his lips. “Come on. Bite.”

Xie Lian did. Reluctantly.

The juice ran down his chin, and Hua Cheng caught it with a thumb, licking it off with such exaggerated indulgence that Xie Lian made another flustered noise and slumped into his shoulder.

He poured him a cup of water and held it to his lips.

Xie Lian turned his head. “I’m not thirsty.”

“Drink,” Hua Cheng said, smile fading into something just slightly stern.

Xie Lian looked at him, wide-eyed.

“…Mn,” he mumbled, opening his mouth obediently.

Hua Cheng tipped the cup gently, and Xie Lian sipped, cheeks pink.

After that, a bite of melon. Then mango. Then a spoonful of sweet rice, warm and soft.

“I can feed myself,” Xie Lian said sleepily, mouth opening for the next bite anyway.

“Clearly.” Hua Cheng set the empty dish aside and leaned down to press a lingering kiss to Xie Lian’s forehead. A casual snap of his fingers made the tray vanish, the lights dimming to a soft, golden glow. The world seemed to shrink down to just the bed and the two of them cocooned in its center.

Climbing in beside him, Hua Cheng immediately pulled Xie Lian into his body, tucking him beneath his chin, one arm possessively looped around his waist.

“You’re not going to let me go even in sleep?” Xie Lian said softly, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“Never,” Hua Cheng murmured, brushing a kiss over his cheek, then another at the corner of his mouth. “I might wake up and find out this was all a dream.”

Xie Lian huffed a quiet laugh, eyes half-lidded as he tilted his face to return a gentle kiss to Hua Cheng’s jaw. “Mm… my San Lang is so dramatic…”

“Only for you,” Hua Cheng whispered, and stole one last, unhurried kiss from his lips.

They traded a few more soft words and little teases until their voices slurred into drowsiness. Wrapped in each other’s warmth, their breathing began to sync, and, still tangled together, they drifted into a deep, contented sleep.