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Mihou matched Sage’s wild grin, hiding the relief that finally something was going right. “You really wanna play this game?” he challenged, tail flicking dangerously. Sage’s eyes flashed in turn, thirsting for the fight, and Mihou took that as his answer. “Okay, fine. Hey, speaking of which, how are your knees, Peaches?”
Sage barely had the chance to shuffle between flustered and confused before Mihou’s weight dropped, one leg spinning out to catch him by the knees, knocking the king’s feet out from under him.
“Hey!” he cried as he rushed to catch himself, dodging the ensuing blow as he did. “That’s not fair, you caught me off guard!”
“Get him Mama!” Xi cheered as Mihou danced back, ducking beneath one strike and blocking the next, gaining some distance and putting a couch between them. “Show Baba who’s boss!”
“That’s right, Xixi,” he agreed, darting around the furniture when Sage tried to follow him—only to run straight into a clone he hadn’t noticed, gasping as his wrists were taken hostage and he was wrestled out the door. He nearly tripped down the stairs, saved only by yanking the clone off balance to haul himself upright and dispose of it.
The shadows came at his call easily, cudgel twirling expertly in his hand as he gained more space, waiting for his opponent to follow.
Sage’s expression was practically maniacal—hah—with excitement as he landed on the ground in front of him, taking the brief respite to pull out his own staff that made a loud crack! when he slammed the end of it against the ground.
“Is that supposed to intimidate me?” Mihou scoffed, tucking his hands behind himself neatly. Tapping his staff against the ground.
“You don’t want to do this,” the king teased, slowly starting to circle around to the side.
“What, confident you’ll win?” the shadow purred, matching him step for step. His heart was pounding, giddy with the coming spar. He could hear the other’s hearts as well, drumming along, fast and excited. “Don’t be so cocky, Sun. I know you. Remember?” He couldn’t count the hours he’d spent training with the other. Playing, sparring, fighting, constant contact, until he knew the king’s ins and outs as intrinsically as he knew his own.
“And I know you, Liu’er,” Sage reminded him, teeth glinting in the light. “Don’t be so smug. But, say you win. What do you get?”
Mihou grinned. “I want you to surprise me with something nice, not a quick kiss or something light. Show me you know me. And, I think you mean when I win.”
“Oh, easy,” Sage laughed. “Okay then, when I win, I…” He trailed off, face scrunching. “Ooh, this might be harder than I thought.” But his smile only grew when Mihou laughed, so he said, “Alright, if I don’t decide by the time this is over, I’ll just make you surprise me too.”
“Done,” the shadow said, tongue clicking as he twirled his staff again. “Ready?”
“Ready—hey!” Sage fell over as Mihou attacked.
The fight obviously ended with Mihou solidly winning, the end of his staff pressed up against Sage’s vulnerable throat, the king panting for breath where he was pinned down by the shadows.
“Not fair!” he whined as Xi cheered from the side, sensing the end of the battle and racing up to Mihou, scaling the shadow easily like a tree to perch on his shoulder and stick his tongue out at his baba. “You cheated!”
“I can promise you I didn’t,” the shadow hummed, chest warm with affection. But he liked to make his husband squirm, so his staff didn’t move away, instead nudging up against Sage’s throat to elicit an odd urk noise from him. “I barely even used my shadows.” That was a lie; he used them a lot, but in subtle ways. To propel him forward, to block an attack. Not much, not noticeable, but definitely a lot.
“Ugh,” Sage rasped, exhaling with relief when Mihou’s staff finally dissipated into shadow, reaching out to take the offered hand to get back to his feet. “Liar.”
In a blink, there was a shadow-knife pressed against the side of his throat, but Sage wasn’t afraid. Well aware of the kind of mood Mihou could get into after a fight, he smiled and moved away from the knife to press a sweet kiss to Mihou’s cheek, then cupping Xi’s head in one hand to press another kiss to their son’s brown curls.
“Alright, you both win,” the king said, sounding warm and gooey with the same kind of affection melting Mihou’s heart. “Let’s all get cleaned up and have some lunch, yeah? I’ll be needing a little time to think of Mihou’s surprise.” He purred the last word in Mihou’s ear, and the shadow shivered a little bit, heart skipping a beat with excitement. It wouldn’t be spicy, he knew that, just something sappy and sweet, and that was more than enough. Actually, it was exactly what he was hoping for.
So Mihou followed along. He ate lunch and laughed when Xi tried to feed Sage and ended up smashing a mango against the king’s face, he helped rock their son to sleep when it was naptime, and he let Sage take him by the hand to lead them away from Xi’s hammock, down to the stairway and up towards their bed. He closed his eyes when he was told to and sat down on the edge of the mattress, ears flicking uselessly when Sage went completely silent, the rest of the world filling in his husband’s quiet. The touch moved to his head, a strip of cooled cloth pressing against his eyes, officially blinding him.
It would’ve been more of an issue if Sage had attempted to blot out his hearing entirely, but his husband knew better than that. He let it be, twisting his ears to see if he could catch any noise, instead focusing on his son’s sleeping breath down the path, letting his heart be soothed by the sound.
He flinched at a surprise touch on his shoulder, but leaned into it just as quick, a smile dancing along his lips. “Is this my prize, oh great king?” he teased. “Blindfolded and sitting around, waiting for you?”
A low chuckle in his ear responded. “Waiting for me? Love, I’m waiting for you.”
“So it’s a challenge, then,” he realized. “You want me to do something, and I’m supposed to guess what it is.”
A pleased hum.
“Can I get a hint?”
“Only that you don’t need to get up and leave. And don’t take off the blindfold.”
“Uh-huh. Anything else?”
Nothing.
“Sun?”
He bit his lip, heart thrumming a tiny bit faster in anticipation when the king still didn’t respond. Guess that was all his hints, then. Was Sage still watching? Was he alone? The shadow huffed and twisted his mind to try and think like Sage. He could’ve been hiding something; he’d left lunch long enough to do that, but… Sage was supposed to be thinking like him. So what did Mihou think Sage thought Mihou wanted?
Tricky, tricky… He wasn’t even sure he knew what he wanted. That was part of the trick to requesting this, trying to see if he’d get a need satiated without knowing it needed to be resolved. His husband hadn’t disappointed him in a long time, so he was hopeful.
But maybe not so tricky. His life was entwined with the king’s so tightly that it was like they’d become one person. They had the same goals, the same cravings, the same favorites, they shared everything. So, what Mihou wanted, Sage wanted. And if Mihou knew anything about Sage, it was that the guy was a sucker for naps, just as much as Mihou was a sucker for uninterrupted naps.
Maybe that was the challenge? Just… go to sleep?
Oooh, tricky monkey. Sage knew it would be tough to fall asleep with this anticipation. So what was he planning…?
The shadow couldn’t help the smile slowly spreading across his lips, but he managed to swallow the childish giggle, looking forward to this surprise. He moved slowly, listening for any sound that would prove his notion wrong, and slotted himself under the blankets, curling up on his side for a moment before deciding it wasn’t satisfactory. He twisted to lay on his stomach, tucking his hands under the pillow before settling into the position with a sigh.
But there was something under the pillow.
Carefully, he extracted the thing and felt it all the way around. Two fluffy, padded circles, connected by an arch of leather-padded wire that could rest nicely against his skull. He’d had a dream about these, once, because sometimes his powers let loose when he was asleep and fed into his imaginations. Ear muffs. He wasn’t really sure what the dream was about, but he remembered waking up and trying to describe the futuristic contraption to his husband, how they were designed to muffle sound, forming a soft seal around the ears to isolate the world. He’d tried to sketch it out, but even after centuries, he still hadn’t gotten much better at drawing. Sage attempted it based on his description and got it on the first try.
Mihou frowned. “What’s this?” he asked, hoping the king was still around to hear, but all that passed was silence. “Sun?” He bit his lip again when there was still nothing. “I’m not putting this on, if that’s what you want.” He could handle the blindfold. He was okay with that, but Sage- he knew what happened if he couldn’t hear anything. He couldn’t do that, much less be deaf and blind.
He set the ear muffs to the side and settled against the pillow again, less relaxed with the idea of being completely vulnerable to the world around him. He hugged the pillow again, squeezing the fabric in his fists. Where was Sage?
Not far, apparently, because it wasn’t long after he exhaled shakily to try and relax completely that Sage reappeared.
Mihou inhaled sharply and instinctively jolted his head up to try and see when his husband’s weight slowly spread across his body, starting at his shoulders, the ginger’s hands pressing down firmly and travelling down his arms to wrap around his wrists under the pillow. The king released his silence and hummed softly in Mihou’s ear, face tucking against his shoulder as his chest laid across his upper back. He let himself lay atop Mihou entirely, the heavy pressure drawing a pleased, accidental purr from the shadow.
“I was worried there, for a minute,” he sighed, melting into the mattress. “I thought you wanted me to put on the ear muffs. How’d you…” He yawned. “How’d you make ‘em?”
“Hair,” the king responded simply. “And actually, I… Well, they do play a part in this. It’s sort of a trust exercise. We can stop here though, if you want, unless you’re okay with playing out the rest of the plan?”
Mihou hesitated, inhaling and feeling the sore stretch of Sage’s stone-heavy weight on his lungs. At least he was asking. “I’m… okay. Just- don’t be surprised if I call it off. I’ll tap out.”
Sage nodded against him, almost nuzzling him. “‘Course,” he obliged, shifting. Mihou heard him pick up the headphones, and held his breath when he felt them touch the edges of his ears. “I’ll keep watch, love, don’t worry. Ready?”
The familiar phrase melted the last of Mihou’s reservations, and he nodded. The earmuffs slipped over his six ears, suppressing the unconscious flutter, and forcing the world to go quiet.
Mihou almost tensed up. He was halfway into the motion when Sage stopped him in his path.
A loud, vibrating purr rumbled through the king’s chest and into the shadow’s back, and with the ear muffs isolating Mihou away from the world, it just made the crackling noise that much louder. It resonated through his whole body, tingling all the way out from the center of his back all the way out to the tips of his finger and toes, tail unconsciously snapping around Sage’s knee in surprise. His next inhale stuttered on the way in when Sage’s chuckle at his reaction mixed with the purr, and he couldn’t help the whine of pleasure that escaped him on the following exhale.
“You’re cute,” the king crooned, but Mihou didn’t hear it, he felt it, and it shattered all the icy worry in his chest. The weight, the warmth, the feel… He couldn’t even complain that he was deprived of his two most important senses, because he was fairly certain that this was heaven. All of the sensations were heightened by the lack of what he didn’t have, and it made the comfort spread that much further through his body. “Feel good?” Sage asked, smug.
Mihou hiccupped and nodded quickly, careful not to dislodge the earmuffs. “Y-yes,” he whimpered. “Yes.”
“Looks like I win this round, then,” the ginger gloated, his voice reverberating through the shadow’s body more than his ears, though he could still hear just enough through the earmuffs to hear the voice itself.
Sage put more breath into the purr, and Mihou melted into the mattress, bottom lip trembling. It wasn’t really emotion, but it was definitely relief, realizing that he’d been right. Sage knew what he needed even when he, himself, didn’t know, and went above and beyond with it. The air deprivation and the sore stretch of his lungs with each breath was amazing, if only because Mihou didn’t really need to breathe to survive, and the pressure was more grounding than any hug he’d ever been given.
The only issue was that the weight was misplaced, ever so slightly. He only needed it just an inch higher, and he’d be completely a puddle of blissed-out monkey pudding, though this was pretty good too.
Sage seemed to know what he was feeling, actually, because after a long couple of minutes, the king shifted slightly. His weight lifted off of Mihou, drawing a soft whine from the shadow, but he wasn’t gone long. Mihou didn’t bother to help Sage move him, instead letting the king do all the work to pick up the limp macaque and reposition them both. Sage settled underneath Mihou this time, letting him rest his head heavily against a ginger chest. He realized, after a moment, that Sage was without a shirt, taking an impossible step further to satiate the skin-to-skin craving neither of them could ever fully shake.
Well that wasn’t fair. Mihou huffed, childishly irritable as he struggled to get his limp-noodle arms to cooperate in shrugging off the shoulders of his silken beizi, then clicked his teeth together gratefully when the king laughed at his weak attempt and helped him pull the top half down to pool where it was tied around his waist. He hadn’t stopped purring; a constant vibration that trembled through Mihou’s chest as he resettled against his husband, unconsciously smiling when hands—gentle hands, kind hands, familiar hands—started combing through the fur on his back.
The touch was firm, soothing the ache of the previous weight pressing him down. It didn’t really venture lower than his hips, but he was more than okay with that, he just needed the pressure on his back. He chirped softly and then yawned again when Sage pressed his muzzle to the top of his head, pressing a slow and gentle kiss there while his fingers scraped through the fur on his back, ruffling it a little before smoothing it back down, always stopping short just before breaching the top of his back where he needed it the most.
It got to the point that ants started crawling along under his skin in that spot, tickling, itching, aching for the pressure until Mihou couldn’t stand it anymore.
He whined and squirmed weakly when Sage missed the spot again, hands curling into fists under the pillow that the king was slightly propped up on. He heard the purring go down, but it didn’t bother him as much as the infuriating sensation crawling along the back of his shoulders.
Please, he chirped, barely able to say anything more as he pressed his head harder into Sage’s chest. Please.
Sage actually laughed. Not a full-throated, belly deep one, but he laughed. The idiot. “I was wondering how long it’d take,” he teased, smiling into where he kept his mouth pressed against Mihou’s head. His hands travelled up, and—
“Oh,” Mihou gasped as nails scraped against the skin of his naked back, pressing through the fur, scratching him exactly where he needed it.
He couldn’t help the string of chirps that poured from his lips as he dug his claws into the mattress, nerves singing with delight as he squeezed his eyes shut even through the blindfold, zeroed in on the euphoric sensation. It was so good. So good. He wanted to beg for it to never stop, but he couldn’t manage to eke the words out between ecstatic monkey noises. He just shifted again to plead for more by stretching himself out and arching into the touch, allowing more access and whining when Sage read him with ease.
His king’s claws were ever so kind, combing through his fur, digging in past the coat to bring delight to the nerves underneath, stroking down the sides of his neck, venturing up into his mane to scrape against his scalp and send tingles of pleasure to Mihou’s chest. It felt so good that Mihou was half sure he could cry and laugh at the same time, giddy and satisfied. His muscles really were useless now; he couldn’t get up if he tried.
“I… love you,” he breathed past unconscious animal noises. “I love you.”
“I know,” Sage said, all smug as he pinched some fur and rolled it between his fingers. The sparks surged and Mihou leaned into the sensation, tail curling. “I love you too.” His other hand came up and tapped lightly on the earmuffs. “Want me to take these off?”
Under any normal circumstances, Mihou would’ve said yes. But his husband was watching his back, and he was completely melted into this position. It wasn’t like he couldn’t hear anything, anyway, so he… He was comfortable there.
Mihou sighed and shook his head, feeling a drowsy weight take hold of his muscles, pulling him down. “‘M okay,” he slurred. “J’s… don’ move.”
Another kiss to his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Plum.” The slightly rough touches shifted into something even more gentle as Sage sensed Mihou considering sleep. Instead, it was just a slow massage, pressing down slowly and intermittently, hands spreading out across Mihou’s back. “Have a nice nap.”
The shadow churred at him and sank into the darkness that surrounded him. It was soft, and it was warm, and he could hear his husband breathing against him. Really, how could he not fall asleep?
Well, actually, there was one thing, but that was resolved right as he was on the cusp of unconsciousness. A tiny weight on the edge of the bed appeared, and he didn’t quite catch what his husband said, but it didn’t matter, because the little weight was crawling towards him.
His son responded with something in kind, and then some little weight placed itself on his lower back, curling up in a sleepy little ball that purred when Mihou’s tail subconsciously flicked around to wrap itself around the warm little figure.
Perfect.