Chapter Text
“Nnngh.” Xie Lian groans as he begins to motion around in bed, awoken by the scent of food flowing through their home. He blearily opens his eyes and blinks away the drowsiness. Xie Lian turns to lie on his back and glances to his left, the side of the bed that Hua Cheng would usually sleep and notices it’s empty. “San Lang…” Xie Lian mumbles, voice still hoarse and dry.
Also, his body is… sore. He pulls the sheets slightly off his body and couldn’t help, but turn red looking at all the marks that Hua Cheng left on him. Hua Cheng spared no relief of marking his body from his neck to even the bottom of his calf – Of course he is sore! Xie Lian sits up to examine at the bite mark on his calf, and sees that although the bite didn’t break through his skin, it was nonetheless a mark! Xie Lian grumbles deeply, now he really can’t wear shorts for the next couple of days and the weather is only getting hotter.
Xie Lian promised his sweet Hua Cheng he would grant any reward for him the prior day, and he should’ve known the extent of the reward would keep them up almost all night. He glances up to the wall clock and notices it’s well past noon; he hasn’t slept in at all this whole Spring semester, so at least he got to sleep in from their late night up.
The sound of light footsteps echoes as it makes its way into their bedroom, “Gege is awake?”
Emerging in front of the doorway was a very much shirtless Hua Cheng, wearing only sweats while holding a tray of food - 2 plates of toast, eggs, sausage, bacon and 2 mugs of coffee. Xie Lian squints at his fiancé as he comes into clearer view and in a mixture of shock, horror, embarrassment, whatever word to describe what he sees – Hua Cheng’s front torso is all marked up with scratches and love marks as well!! As if the emotions are clearly written on Xie Lian’s face, Hua Cheng smirks and chuckles playfully as he sits on the edge of the bed next to Xie Lian. He sets the tray down on the nightstand next to the bed and pulls Xie Lian into an embrace.
“Good morning, Gege.” Hua Cheng smiles as he holds Xie Lian showering his face with soft, butterfly kisses.
“Were you admiring the work of art you painted on this San Lang?” He says in a tone filled with tease.
This man will be the death of him! He’ll just let Hua Cheng say whatever he wants because he’s just too sore to fight back even verbally. “San Lang…. I’m sore. And it’s the afternoon already...” Xie Lian sighs and melts into the embrace, hands now wrapped around Hua Cheng’s waist as well.
“Ah, this San Lang apologizes to his Gege. Which is why,” Hua Cheng answers as he partially releases Xie Lian from the embrace with one arm and reaches over to grab a mug of hot coffee and brings it towards Xie Lian, “This San Lang thought it would be wise to bring gifts of forgiveness, if Gege would accept?” Putting on his most apologetic expression as he smiles.
“San Lang is being insincere.” Although saying in a joking tone, Xie Lian happily accepted the mug and lightly blew into it to cool it down before taking a sip.
“Gee, I am always sincere.” Probably knowing he is successful in his efforts, Hua Cheng grabs for the rest of the tray and readjusts his position in front of Xie Lian sitting a bit back, crisscrossed and sets the tray of food in between him and Xie Lian.
“How about I feed Gege to prove my sincerity?” He begins as he brings up food towards Xie Lian. Although Xie Lian is a grown man and fully capable of still feeding himself, despite his body’s state, he just simply accepts the gesture and takes a bite.
“Mmmm! San Lang, this is so good.” Satisfied with the reaction, Hua Cheng continues to feed both Xie Lian and himself.
“Not as good as Gege’s cooking, but I believe this should be satisfying enough for this morning.” Hua Cheng softly smiles and continues to feed Xie Lian.
“San Lang… You know my cooking’s not that great. Only you can handle it!”
“Gege, your cooking is out of this world. Nothing compares. If I had to pick one thing to eat forever, it would be your cooking and yours alone.”
“Ah… Alright, alright, San Lang. Whatever you say.” Xie Lian smacks Hua Cheng’s arm lightheartedly and the two just spend the rest of their early afternoon in bed like that, bantering playfully and talking about random things.
After about two hours of just lazing around after their late breakfast, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng relaxed on the first day of their summer and did nothing but enjoy each other’s company. It was the weekend so of course neither of them had any plans. Over summer break, Hua Cheng will still have to go into their school for practices three days out of the week for a couple hours, along with He Xuan and Yin Yu, which Xie Lian immensely feels bad for them, but at least they do get a fair bonus for summer work. Xie Lian doesn’t have any courses he’s teaching until July, so he basically has a whole month and a half with no priorities, but to relax.
“San Lang, should we take a trip somewhere this summer? Ah, of course on days you don’t have to go in for practice.” Xie Lian hums out as he washes the dishes from their meal earlier that morning.
Hua Cheng was sitting on the couch, with his coaching notebook, thinking of new regimens and game strategies that will incorporate the new players on the team. Upon hearing Xie Lian’s question, he perks up to respond. “Hmm, that sounds great Gege, where do you have in mind?”
“Maybe to the beach?” Xie Lian suggests.
“Hmm, I actually think we can get a room at a pretty great resort right off the beach, Gege.” Hua Cheng sets his notebook down and walks over to the kitchen counter and reaches for his wallet, then pulls out a business card and shows Xie Lian it. The card had a picture of a resort, and the name of the owner.
“Hm? Ming Resort?” Xie Lian questions as he looks at the name of the resort.
“Pei Su, one of the star players on my team, apparently his uncle, Pei Ming, owns a whole bunch of resorts and this card is basically a pass for a free stay.” He waves the card in front of him. “It was a gift from his family for taking home the National’s victory last season. I wanted to save it for a special occasion with Gege. Now sounds like a perfect time.”
“You are always prepared, San Lang. You never cease to amaze me.” Xie Lian dries his hands on the towel hanging from the sink area, and proceeds to walk around the counter. He wraps his arms around Hua Cheng and rests his head against the taller man’s chest, smiling into the embrace.
“This is nothing, Gege. You should only have the finest things, including the best vacations.” Hua Cheng returns the hug and rests his head atop Xie Lian’s.
“Whether we go to a resort, or end up sleeping on the beach in a tent, with you, San Lang, I’d be happy anywhere though.” He hums against Hua Cheng’s chest.
Hua Cheng is the one getting flushed now, blushing a light rosy hue. Xie Lian isn’t a tease or much of an experienced flirter, so sometimes, he can say such lines so straightforward without a second thought because its’ what he truly means. By doing so, Xie Lian always flusters Hua Cheng. The sincerity and love he receives from Xie Lian always overwhelms him and fills his heart to the brim.
“Gege…” Hua Cheng, now pouting as he buries his face into Xie Lian’s hair. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
Xie Lian laughs heartily at Hua Cheng, “Don’t die yet, San Lang. We have a vacation and a wedding soon, and I don’t think I can do any of those without you.”
Hua Cheng groans jokingly, still hiding in Xie Lian’s hair. “Fine. Gege wins this time.”
He finally lifts his head and distances the two enough for him to look at Xie Lian, who is smiling crescent eyed, and this expression, Hua Cheng could definitely die happily if it’s the last thing he sees. However, he can’t die yet, as Xie Lian has pleaded with him, so death will just have to wait.
“Would you like to go on an outing today for the vacation, Gege? I should have a 4-day break probably in two weeks; Should we plan to go to the resort then?”
“En!” Xie Lian smiles and nods at Hua Cheng’s suggestions. “Let me go change and we could head out, it’ll be like a date!”
“Hmm, will Gege wear shorts today? It looks pretty hot out.” Hua Cheng smirks mischievously at Xie Lian, all knowing too well about the visible bite marks he left on Xie Lian’s calves.
Xie Lian is the one turning flushed now and playfully smacks against Hua Cheng’s arm before stomping away in the cute, non-malicious way to escape anytime he’s embarrassed. “San Lang, you rascal.” He huffs and mutters as he stomps away to their room.
“Gege~ Forgive this San Lang~ Please!” Hua Cheng chuckles and skips behind Xie Lian, without a hint of remorse in his tone, just pure tease.
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Hua Cheng drove them into the city to the nearest mall. The two wandered around the stores hand in hand, pointing at different types of summer clothes, and accessories that they can use for their trip. “Look at this shirt, San Lang!”
Xie Lian pulls Hua Cheng by the hand as he walks from store to store pointing at this shirt, those shorts, this backpack, and anything that interests his eyes. Hua Cheng follows Xie Lian, happily being pulled along. There are always eyes on them when they go to places together; whether it’s to dinner, shopping for groceries, or going to the mall like today, a lot of eyes are always on them, but they’ve gotten used to ignoring all of those looks over the years.
When Hua Cheng and Xie Lian are together, they are they only ones that matter to one another. So, with that, they continue their shopping.
Xie Lian loves looking at anything interesting, but looking is enough to make him happy. Xie Lian isn’t much of a buyer when it comes to things for himself, it’s been like this since college. He’s had to live several years frugally due to his parent’s passing and being as careful financially as he can in order to proportionate the use of the money his parents left him.
So, after years of having the habit of just looking at things and not buying any of it, unless absolutely necessary, Hua Cheng came into the picture and constantly spoiled Xie Lian with this and that. If Xie Lian couldn’t accept the gifts, Hua Cheng would buy stuff for himself, and cover up the act of gifting Xie Lian things, by saying, “Gege, I bought this for myself, but it looks so much better on you, can you wear it in San Lang’s place? It would make him happiest.”
Xie Lian wasn’t oblivious to such actions from Hua Cheng, but it was adorable how Hua Cheng always found different creative ways of gifting Xie Lian things. So, in the end, he would accept the gifts anyways because how can he deny Hua Cheng anything, when he sees him so happy gifting them to Xie Lian! Xie Lian just had to quality control the things Hua Cheng purchased if there was any slight hint that it may be a gift for him.
By the end of their shopping, Xie Lian ends up with 3 new pairs of shirts – a plain white button up short sleeve, a beige t-shirt, and a white/red striped shirt picked out for him by Hua Cheng. Xie Lian also walked away additionally with 2 pairs of shorts, swimming trunks and 2 hats. While, Hua Cheng ended up with 4 pairs of shirts, red and black tees, 2 pairs of joggers, a pair of swimming trunks and a pair of shorts.
“Well, I think we got a little too excited and went on spree for sure.” Xie Lian laughed at all the bags that Hua Cheng was holding that was both his and Xie Lian’s clothes. Xie Lian told Hua Cheng he can hold his own bags, but Hua Cheng insisted on holding all their shopping bags, so it would be easier for Xie Lian to feed Hua Cheng. Xie Lian chuckled and knew he was spoiling Hua Cheng a lot these days and indulging in all his wishes and whims, but what could he do when every time, Hua Cheng would always make requests with the biggest puppy eyes.
So, Xie Lian continued to indulge Hua Cheng by holding the bag of salted pretzels and feeding Hua Cheng and himself as they walked out of the mall. This brat was definitely becoming more and more spoiled as the days pass, Xie Lian thought to himself with a chuckle as he fed his taller fiancé.
“It won’t feel like a vacation unless we shed out of our usual, everyday clothes for some new ones, right?” Hua Cheng responds and gladly takes the pretzels into his mouth with satisfaction as he’s being fed by Xie Lian.
“You’re very right, my sweet, and handsome San Lang.” Xie Lian beams a smile and chuckle as he feeds Hua Cheng the last bite of the pretzels. “This trip will be fun! It’s been so long since we had a real break and time away together.”
Hua Cheng smirks at the compliment from Xie Lian and just continues on as he takes the empty bag of food and tosses it as they walk near a trash bin. After tossing the empty bag away, Hua Cheng takes hold of Xie Lian’s free hand as they walk towards their car. “Since Gege suggested today to be a date, we should end it with a dinner date, no?”
“Ah, you’re right! I have the perfect place in mind too!” Xie Lian raises his free hand, index finger pointing up. “Let’s go eat at Rainy Day Café! It’s been so long since we’ve gone there don’t you think?”
Rainy Day Café was the place the two met for the first time during their student years, and it also became the place of their many meetings afterwards, whether it was a place to just hang out, or to study, it became a staple to come to Rainy Day Café.
Eventually, the two of them and their friends came often enough, frequently ran into the boss, Yushi Huang often as well. Yushi Huang came to adore the two of them along with their group of friends, always showering them with free food and drinks whenever she was working the same time they’d be there. She would always tell them it’s a reward for working so hard on their studies and told them to use it as encouragement to continue doing well in school.
With such a gesture, every member in their group of friends did work hard and she became the figure in their lives that they always shared their good grades with after each semester, wanting to impress and earn praises from her. Xie Lian never said it out loud, but he somewhat saw Yushi Huang as a mother figure after meeting her, she resembled his own mother, who was always kind, gentle and patient.
So even after graduating, even though the rest of their friends came to Rainy Day Café less, Xie Lian always made it a goal to visit at least once a month to return the kind gesture Yushi Huang as offered them in their younger years. Hua Cheng, couldn’t handle most people, but Yushi Huang was the few people in their lives that he also enjoyed seeing.
“Hm, it has been over a month since we visited the madam boss. I’m fine with having our dinner date there, Gege.” Hua Cheng contentedly nodded with Xie Lian as they reached their car. He opened the passenger door for Xie Lian, being the best gentleman, only for Xie Lian of course. As Xie Lian seated himself into the car and thanked Hua Cheng, he closed the door and walked to the trunk to place their bags of clothes in before getting inside the driver’s seat and starting the car to their next destination, Rainy Day Café.