Chapter Text
“Gege, I have a surprise for you tonight.”
Xie Lian paused with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “You do?”
The gentle murmurs and hum of a busy restaurant continued around them, as waiters carried wine and dishes of food to the many tables. Few noticed a table in a shadowy corner, where two men had been dining quietly together. To the casual passer-by, it would probably look like two friends having a pleasant dinner together — but a closer look would have revealed that their hands were tightly entwined on the tabletop.
Hua Cheng smiled at his lover, resting his cheek against his fist. As he often did when they were out and about in the mortal realm, he had taken on the form of a handsome youth of sixteen or seventeen. Though he appeared to have both eyes, and his face was a little rounder and less defined than in his true form, he still wore robes of vivid crimson, and there was a subtle mischief to his smile that wouldn’t be found in an actual teenager’s face.
Xie Lian quickly put down his chopsticks, and looked eagerly at the ghost king’s face. “What is it, San Lang?”
“It’s a surprise — a very special surprise, here in this town,” Hua Cheng said, his smile widening. “I’ll show you after you finish your food.”
Xie Lian smiled softly back at him, as Hua Cheng began eating his own food. He gently rubbed his thumb over the side of his lover’s hand, and was rewarded with a gentle tightening of his fingers.
In truth, he wasn’t surprised that Hua Cheng was surprising him with something pleasant. His ghost king enjoyed giving him gifts — even though Xie Lian insisted he didn’t need many material things — and often brought Xie Lian on journeys that seemed entirely created to entertain him. They had spent that afternoon on Mount Taicang, lying together on a silk blanket under the maple trees. Hua Cheng had lazily played with Xie Lian’s hair, as the god told him stories about his youth there five hundred years before.
But he couldn’t imagine what Hua Cheng had planned for him in this town. It was a large one but not particularly distinctive, except for the plum orchards that ringed it. Xie Lian had wandered through a thousand towns and cities like it in his long life, although usually his journeys had been less pleasant than this day trip. Back then, he had been alone, with no home to return to, and no one caring about what happened to him.
Now, everything was different. He had a home — actually, he technically had two. One was a manor in Ghost City, where he spent much of his time, and the other was a palace in Heaven that he had never set foot in. And he was rarely alone, because he had Hua Cheng now — and Hua Cheng never let a day pass without letting Xie Lian know that he was loved.
No, more than loved. For five hundred long years, Hua Cheng had adored Xie Lian passionately, fiercely and faithfully — ever since he had been a young child whom Xie Lian had rescued from a fatal fall. He worshiped the prince. He revered him. They had been separated shortly after Hua Cheng’s death, and he had risen to power as a Supreme ghost with only one goal — to find and protect the man he loved more than anything in the three realms.
In those five hundred years, he had never fallen in love with anyone else, had never stopped looking, and had tried to ruin every god who had wronged his beloved prince. Though Xie Lian had not been a god at that time, he still had one worshiper — a ghost whose devotion eclipsed that of a thousand ordinary believers.
And after five hundred years, Hua Cheng had found Xie Lian.
He had been stabbed and buried alive in the kingdom of Yong’an, with a spike through his torn, ravaged heart and blood choking and suffocating him. He had been left there for twenty-six years by the former prince of that kingdom — now a god in his own right — and it was only Hua Cheng’s intervention that had freed the crown prince. His immortal body could heal from even the most terrible injuries, but it had taken him weeks of gentle care.
With his own hands, Hua Cheng had freed Xie Lian, carried him back to Ghost City, and cared for him ceaselessly in the days that followed. He had cut the ruined clothes from Xie Lian’s body, washed the blood, sweat and dirt from his skin, and bandaged the hideous wound through his heart.
At first, Hua Cheng had kept his true identity a secret from Xie Lian, posing as a wealthy man who had stumbled across Xie Lian’s tomb by accident. Xie Lian had peeled away the secrets like the skin of an onion over the days that followed — he had discerned that Hua Cheng was a powerful ghost, that he knew Xie Lian’s true identity, and finally that Hua Cheng had loved him for five centuries. He had followed him as a child, as a youth, and finally as a ghost who had nearly been destroyed saving him.
In those few weeks, Xie Lian had also found himself falling in love with Hua Cheng. He hadn’t recognized the feeling at first. All he had known was how painful it was to think about leaving Hua Cheng’s side or seeing him in the arms of another person. When Hua Cheng’s feelings had been revealed, Xie Lian had rushed into his arms without a second thought. It felt as natural as breathing.
Of course, it had taken months for them to consummate their relationship. For five hundred years, Xie Lian had kept himself chaste and pure in every way — and while his cultivation had tolerated kissing and a little fondling, it was an immense step for him to make love at last. Of course, something else had happened when he awkwardly told Hua Cheng that he wanted to take that step.
He had ascended.
Things had become much more complicated, because of Hua Cheng’s history with the gods. Xie Lian’s old friends Feng Xin and Mu Qing had temporarily put their famous animosity aside to spy on him, convinced that Hua Cheng was abusing him and using him for his body. But eventually, he had been able to convince them that he truly did know Hua Cheng, that he loved him and was loved by him, and that Hua Cheng would never harm him.
Hua Cheng finished his own food in a few bites, and then settled down to watch Xie Lian eating. There seemed to be no limit on the mundane things he found fascinating, as long as Xie Lian was the one doing them. The prince had stepped in a mud puddle a few days before, and then sat on a rock in a stream scrubbing his boots clean. Hua Cheng had offered to do it himself, and when Xie Lian had refused, sat on the bank and watched.
When Xie Lian was finished, Hua Cheng slapped some money on the table and led him out into the cool night air. Lanterns hung over the streets like hundreds of full moons, casting a soft warm light over everyone who passed under them. Stalls and carts filled with food, toys and trinkets lined the streets — it reminded Xie Lian of walking through Ghost City, although this city was far less frenetic than Hua Cheng’s.
Excitement streamed through Xie Lian as Hua Cheng led him through the crowd, gently but firmly. “San Lang,” he said breathlessly. “Can you give me a hint?”
“You’ll see soon, gege,” Hua Cheng said. He had transformed back into his taller, one-eyed form, with brilliant silver glinting around his throat and wrists. “Just follow me.”
They wandered through crowds, their hands clasped firmly together. Xie Lian’s gaze roamed over the street, taking in the faces of the people around them, before moving up to the yellow-tinged moon and the brilliance of the stars. It was a beautiful night, a very romantic night — and suddenly he wished he was back on Mount Taicang, lying on that blanket with Hua Cheng. They hadn’t made love outdoors before, and he wondered what it would be like…
Suddenly Hua Cheng reversed their positions, slipping behind Xie Lian and sliding an arm across his waist. “Close your eyes, gege,” he murmured in his ear.
Xie Lian obeyed. Hua Cheng’s other hand was still clasped with Xie Lian’s, as he pushed Xie Lian down the street. Normally, Xie Lian would have felt a little anxious about someone guiding him down a busy street with his eyes closed, but he found that in Hua Cheng’s hands, he didn’t feel insecure at all. The feeling of Hua Cheng’s chest against his back, his cool fingers interlinked with Xie Lian’s warm ones, the brush of his long hair against Xie Lian’s cheek…
Suddenly Hua Cheng stopped, and both his hands moved down to Xie Lian’s waist, carefully turning him to the right. “You can open your eyes, your highness,” he murmured.
Xie Lian did as he was told — and his mouth dropped open.