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Three weeks. He’d been separated from his husband for three whole weeks. And sure it wasn’t that long in the scheme of things, but Xie Lian had gotten used to his days going a certain way and they usually involved a heavy dose of affection from his husband in the form of light touches, easy kisses, and regular hugs.
If he’d been on a mission with Feng Xin and Mu Qing maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad. They weren’t as affectionate as Hua Cheng, but they were no strangers to hugs if Xie Lian initiated them. Instead though, he’d been helping teach the ropes to a new martial god.
It would’ve been faster if Xie Lian had just done it himself but it was this god’s territory and he needed a bit of guidance. Xie Lian was always happy to teach someone. But three weeks was a very long time to be without so much as a hand to hold.
How odd to think that less than a century ago he wouldn’t have been able to tell you the last time he had touched another person casually. Being with Hua Cheng had truly spoiled him. So Xie Lian burst into the Gambler’s Den, attracting the welcomes and well wishes of several ghosts.
“Is the Lord in?” Xie Lian asked one of the croupiers with a polite smile.
“Yes, your highness, right this way.”
“It’s alright, I know the way. Thank you,” he hurried over to the betting table he knew his husband would be supervising, feeling something in him ease a bit as he took in the shadow behind the curtain. He could see Hua Cheng had already perked up at Xie Lian’s entrance.
“I challenge Crimson Rain Sought Flower to a bet,” Xie Lian announced as he came up to the table, ignoring the stunned stares of the guests who didn’t recognize him and the giggles from those who did.
“Oh? And what is Daozhang betting?” Hua Cheng was obscured by the curtain but there was no doubt he was grinning.
“If I win I want the Lord to come home with me immediately,” Xie Lian declared. He refused to be ashamed of saying such things with the sorts of rumors Ghost City spread about them all on their own.
“And if I win?” Hua Cheng asked, amusement dancing on his tongue.
“Then I will come and sit with you.” Xie Lian was going to win either way, but then, so was Hua Cheng.
His husband stood, coming to the edge of the curtain. “Does Daozhang need a bit of luck before we start?”
Xie Lian shook his head, rolling out the dice. Snake eyes. “I believe it’s your turn.”
Holding back a chuckle, Hua Cheng took the dice and cup from Xie Lian’s hand, fingers brushing lightly against his in that effortlessly affectionate way Xie Lian had missed, before rolling two perfect sixes. As expected.
Hua Cheng pulled him behind the curtain, tugging Xie Lian back towards his chair as the clammer of the other betting started up again. “Gege could’ve just come back here.”
“San Lang likes when I bet with him though,” Xie Lian let himself be pulled into his husband’s lap, hugging him tight. “I missed you.”
“I do.” Hua Cheng kissed the top of his head, arms wrapping around him. “And I missed you too.”
This was it. This easy affection was exactly what he’d been longing for.
“Touch me?”
“Gege’s so bold today,” Hua Cheng teased. “Maybe I should’ve let gege win.”
“Not like that,” Xie Lian kissed him, just a quick peck, but he was so grateful for it. He wondered if Hua Cheng felt like this too. This hollow yearning for contact.
“But gege it’s been weeks,” Hua Cheng pretended to pout.
“Which is why I’m sure San Lang can wait a bit longer. Let me just enjoy you for now.”
Hua Cheng’s pout gave way to another smile, this one with more genuine happiness than playfulness. “Gege can enjoy this one however he pleases.”
Xie Lian tucked his face into the crook of his husband’s neck. “San Lang can be clingy. I missed San Lang’s clinginess.”
“If gege lets his San Lang be clingy he’ll be brought home.”
“My San Lang is that… hungry?” Xie Lian pulled back to look up, but there was no passion or need in Hua Cheng’s expression. Only fondness.
“This one just wants to touch. But gege’s robes are in the way.”
Xie Lian thought for a moment, but it really was hard to beat skin to skin contact, so he nodded, settling close against Hua Cheng again. “San Lang can take me home then.”
“Seems gege won after all,” Hua Cheng teased as he stood. Surprisingly, Xie Lian didn’t hear the clatter of teleporting dice, but instead felt his husband walking out with Xie Lian still latched tight around him.
“San Lang, where are you going?”
“I’m carrying gege home of course.”
Xie Lian unwrapped his legs from Hua Cheng’s waist to stand on the ground, leveling his husband with a stern look. “Dice.”
Hua Cheng pretended to pout, but swooped in for a kiss and tossed out the dice anyways. The noise of the Gambler’s Den faded away, leaving only the quiet of their bedroom. “Making so many demands after this one won the bet,” he grumbled dramatically.
Xie Lian shook his head. “You know how they get when we carry each other around in public.”
“If gege is ever bothered by something they say, this one can—“
Xie Lian kissed him again, stripping himself of his robes. “Don’t threaten them over such things, it’s our fault.”
Hua Cheng followed his lead in stripping before he pounced, knocking Xie Lian back onto the bed. Cool skin pressed against Xie Lian’s own warmth, keeping him pinned. He could’ve flipped them, Hua Cheng wasn’t using that much strength and Xie Lian did fairly well when the play wrestled. But today he wanted to be safely surrounded by his husband like this. The weight was reassuring and solid.
Xie Lian let out a sigh of satisfaction, wrapping his arms around his husband, letting his fingers brush against the skin now bared to him.
“Gege’s the clingy one today,” Hua Cheng teased, nuzzling him until Xie Lian gave him a few kisses.
“I missed my clingy husband,” Xie Lian teased right back.
“This clingy husband would love to fulfill gege’s requests for affection,” Hua Cheng kissed his cheek. “But it’s hard to touch gege when he’s keeping me held like this.”
Xie Lian frowned. That was true. But he did like the feeling of Hua Cheng as a comforting weight on top of him. But he always wanted his husband to be able to touch him… So difficult.
Hua Cheng propped himself up to watch Xie Lian’s facial journey.
“What would San Lang recommend?”
Hua Cheng laughed. “What would I recommend?”
“En,” Xie Lian moved one hand up to play with his husband’s hair, liking the feel of it between his fingers. “San Lang has good ideas.”
Hua Cheng melted at the praise. “I have several options available for gege.”
“Mhm?” Xie Lian smiled at the silliness in his husband’s voice.
“Option one is I could stay like this for gege. Option two I could give gege all the kisses he missed. Option three gege could sit on my lap and play with my hands and tell me what happened on his trip.”
Xie Lian considered his options. “What if I sit in San Lang’s lap and play with one of his hands so he can hold me with the other?”
Hua Cheng showered his face in kisses until he got a laugh out of him. “Is that what gege wants?”
“En. And San Lang has to tell me what happened while I was gone too.”
“Of course gege,” Hua Cheng tried to pull back, only to shoot Xie Lian an amused look. “Gege you have to let go so I can sit up.”
Reluctant, Xie Lian untangled from his husband and quickly readjusted himself into the man’s lap.
Hua Cheng pulled him near, reliable and familiar and Xie Lian found himself reaching up to stroke his husband’s head fondly.
“This is what I’ve missed,” Xie Lian admitted as Hua Cheng pressed light kisses against his neck.
“I could’ve visited gege if he was so lonely.”
“It would’ve made things more difficult. San Lang would’ve scared the new god.”
“Maybe. But am I really that scary when I cling to gege’s back?” Hua Cheng’s arms tightened around Xie Lian’s waist. Not too tight. Just enough to keep them firmly tucked against each other.
“To the heavens you are. Actually I think that just makes them more scared of me.”
Hua Cheng laughed. “Oh? Are they finally learning some respect?”
“They think I tamed the terrifying Ghost King.”
“Gege did,” Hua Cheng kissed his jaw. So easy. Like it cost him nothing to love Xie Lian and provide those affections. Xie Lian supposed it really didn't.
“They think if they upset me I might command my San Lang to burn their temples.”
“Gege could,” Hua Cheng’s right hand traced aimless patterns along his stomach as he gave Xie Lian his left hand.
Taking it, Xie Lian kissed the back of the hand like it was precious. It was. These were the precious hands his husband gave his endless affections with. “I wouldn’t.”
“But gege could.”
“Why would I want to get into a petty fight with heaven when I can spend my time cuddling my husband?” Xie Lian laughed, tracing the lines of Hua Cheng’s palm.
Hua Cheng let his free hand drift up to rest over Xie Lian’s heart, lips pressed to the pulse in his neck. “Who knows. Maybe once gege gets his fill of me he’ll decide he wants to pick fights for entertainment.”
“I’ll never get my fill of San Lang,” he pressed a kiss to his husband’s palm.
“Gege should probably tell heaven he’s busy forever then.”
“Oh?”
Hua Cheng sighed against his throat, as if very dismayed. “Gege needs my attention. He can’t go out before then. And if gege will never have enough of my attention then I suppose he can just never go out.”
Xie Lian smiled. “Is that right? What about my San Lang? Won’t he get tired of me?”
“Never. I always miss gege,” he insisted.
“Then I suppose I really can’t leave ever again. I couldn’t make my San Lang lonely.”
“It’s settled. From now on gege and I won’t leave this bed.”
Xie Lian made a noise of agreement, leaning back to kiss his husband’s cheek.
They would leave the bed of course. And Xie Lian would help heaven and his followers. But for the afternoon at least there was nothing in the universe that could separate them. Xie Lian liked it that way.