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Much like a human cultivator, demons don’t really NEED to sleep, especially if they’re of a high rank. They can go long periods of time without such a thing, along with eating. It just wasn’t a dire necessity.
Mobei Jun was exactly one of those high ranking demons that didn’t need to sleep, and most of the time he did without it. It left him vulnerable and he didn’t see the point in it at all. Why sleep when he could be doing something much more interesting? Something more important?
That was, of course, before he fell for Shang Qinghua.
How can such a small, insignificant human change so many aspects of his own life?
Mobei Jun went from hardly ever sleeping, only if he truly needed it or needed to heal quicker, to sleeping every night in bed with this human.
To be honest, it was probably due to the fact that Shang Qinghua wouldn’t sleep unless he passed out from exhaustion or someone were to force him into bed and to sleep. In the beginning, Mobei Jun truly didn’t give a fuck what Shang Qinghua did or how he wasted his time, but as feelings started to grow and he watched this human neglect himself in order to get work done, or to do some mindless task that could easily be completed the next day, Mobei Jun found himself unable to just let the human do as he pleased anymore. He had to make sure this dumb, intelligent human took proper care of himself.
That could be why Mobei Jun now was the way that he is.
He found that he can no longer sleep in an empty bed. The nights that Shang Qinghua is at An Ding peak are nights Mobei Jun doesn’t sleep. He becomes too restless, unable to sit still, let alone lay down long enough in the large and now very empty feeling bed to fall asleep.
No, it was out of the question, so those nights he would stay awake and tend to any tasks that needed to be done.
Shang Qinghua was never away for too long, anyways. His peak can run just fine without him physically there, he tended to bring most of his paperwork with him to the ice palace and complete it there. His disciples were self sufficient enough to do most of the work without him, it was more of the official paperwork that needed his attention, along with whatever peak lord duties he had to tend to.
So the few nights of sleep weren’t a big deal to Mobei Jun. Sure, in the past he could have gone much longer without the need for sleep, as opposed to these days where going longer than a week would make him tense and irritable, but in the end it was a small price he was willing to pay in order to make sure Shang Qinghua was properly taking care of himself and didn’t let himself grow so exhausted he passed out at any given moment.
Except at the moment where such a fact was the most annoying thing ever to Mobei Jun.
What was keeping Shang Qinghua from returning? It was already almost two weeks, normally he’d be back by now, demanding attention from the ice king in order to destress, and always Mobei Jun would be more than willing to give him that attention.
He couldn’t be in trouble, because Mobei Jun would’ve known if he was. Besides, even before the peace that was made between demons and humans, the peaks were the safest place to be. Absolutely no harm can come to Shang Qinghua while he was there, at least not of the demon kind.
Feeling on edge, Mobei Jun found himself no longer able to sit around.
Slamming his hands down, scaring the nearby demons so bad they all jumped, Mobei Jun stood up. Without a word to anyone or even stating where he was going, he left quickly. The lesser demons looked at each other, knowing exactly where their king was going without him even needing to say anything.
It was warm in the human realm, but not too oppressive for Mobei Jun. Luckily, the clouds were currently hiding the sun, making so its harsh rays couldn’t touch him. True, he was a very powerful demon, and the sun wouldn’t harm him, but as he was an ice demon and thrived better in the cold, it was more of an inconvenience than anything, one he didn’t really want to deal with at the moment.
An Ding peak disciples no longer batted an eye at seeing the ice demon either. The few that did see him carried on their way, too busy with this or that, no longer scared of the powerful demon king, no longer surprised when he visited, even if he didn’t make regular visits to begin with.
He quickly found his way to Shang Qinghua’s private quarters that Mobei Jun always hated. It was too small for his beloved, too run down and much like a place servants would stay at. Shang Qinghua always told him he didn’t mind, that normally he was far too busy to notice its rundown look, but either way Mobei Jun hated it.
Staring at it now, he hated it. Shang Qinghua should be back at the ice palace with him already, where he was treated the way he should be.
Being in a bad mood already, Mobei Jun basically thought “fuck it” as he entered the room with a loud bang.
Very undignified, Shang Qingua screamed loudly before fumbling with the ink brush that had previously been in his hand, unable to get a hold of it as it fell to the floor with a clatter.
“My-My king!!!!” Shang Qinghua exclaimed after turning around, his voice breathless as he clutched at his chest. “Oh my fu-- You almost gave me a heart attack!!! I don’t mind you visiting, but PLEASE don’t do that again!!!!”
A bit of the irritability in Mobei Jun’s chest died down, his heart soothing at seeing Shang Qinghua after almost two weeks, fine and well. He only felt a little guilty for scaring his beloved but… only a little…
Walking in the room, Mobei Jun frowned. “Why haven’t you returned?” he asked, getting straight to the point.
It took Shang Qinghua a moment to answer, trying to calm his heart and keep it from exploding out of his chest. “I had a lot more work to take care of than I thought. Turns out Liu Qingge had gotten himself in some trouble not too long ago, so there was a lot of medical expensive to go through, and the peaks are being asked to hold some kind of event that I don’t even know what the hell is going on with that, they just threw all this paperwork on me the moment I got here!”
Shang Qinghua continued to ramble on and on, and slowly Mobei Jun felt his heart and soul being soothed by his voice, watching him become more animated as he continued on explaining his predicament. In the past, such a thing would have annoyed Mobei Jun. He didn’t care about any of that, and Shang Qinghua had a habit of dragging on and on when speaking.
But now, he really liked listening to Shang Qinghua talk, even if sometimes the details were lost to him in a sea of information, or if he spoke about things Mobei Jun didn’t understand, his voice had a calming effect on him now, and he found that he really wouldn’t mind listening to Shang Qinghua talk for as long as he wanted.
However, he slowly found himself feeling heavier and heavier. Being around Shang Qinghua, he allowed himself to become vulnerable, even just a bit. The lack of sleep he was so accustomed to was catching up with him, and for the first time in almost two weeks he felt safe enough to feel tired.
Mobei Jun walked over to Shang Qinghua and grabbed at his arm. He pulled, not at all with his full strength. A gentle tug that caught the humans attention and got him to stop rambling. “Is something wrong, my king?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
“Bed.”
Shang Qinghua blinked in confusion, looking back and forth between the object and Mobei Jun. This close up, Mobei Jun could now see the dark circles under the humans eyes.
Clearing his throat, he remembered that he needed to elaborate so his intentions weren’t misunderstood. It was something Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu were working on, and Mobei Jun and Shang Qinghua found that they needed to do the same as well.
“I… Sleep,” he said, the words evading him. Mobei Jun, no matter what, wasn’t one that was good with words.
Finally, Shang Qinghua’s features lit up in understanding, letting out a little oh sound as he nodded. “You’re tired?”
Mobei Jun nodded. Nodding was easier than speaking.
“Would you like to sleep in my bed?”
Another nod, and another soft tug.
“You’re more than welcome to, my king!” Shang Qinghua smiled. “I’ll try to keep it down while I continue working, once I’m done I can wake you up and we can eat dinner together!”
What? No, that’s not what he wanted… Mobei Jun frowned before tugging once again, more insistently. “With you.”
The humans smile grew wider as he let out a small laugh, his shoulders shaking. “I’m sorry, I can’t just drop everything and take a nap with you. I still have a lot of official documents to read and make sense of.”
Well that won’t do at all. Mobei Jun knows he’d get far too restless if he were to lay down and try to sleep alone, even if Shang Qinghua was in the same room as him. He was too used to having the human next to him while he slept that he wasn’t able to sleep any other time.
He tugged again, this time with a bit more force that dragged Shang Qinghua a little, making him yelp before letting out a louder sounding laugh.
“Ah, you’re so spoiled! I’ve gone and spoiled you too much! Alright, quit tugging at me, you win. I’ll join you in bed, but I need to really read these, so I’m not falling asleep.”
Mobei Jun thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. Even if Shang Qinghua wasn’t going to sleep, just having him there would be enough. Gathering up what he needed, Shang Qinghua then walked over to the bed and placed the papers down next to him. The bed seriously was too small, barely able to hold the two of them together, and hardly comfortable. It wasn’t like the grand bed that they shared back at the ice palace, but for now it would have to do.
As he did that, making sure the both of them would have enough room, Mobei Jun removed his fur coat and discarded it somewhere in the room. He didn’t care at the moment, becoming more and more tired.
Once comfortable, Shang Qinghue reached out his arms to Mobei Jun, inviting him in. It was almost embarrassing how quickly Mobei Jun joined him, but seeing his beloved smiling at him, Shang Qinghua’s hair falling out of the very sloppy hairstyle he had tied it up in, and just screaming warmth and comfort, Mobei Jun didn’t care what anyone would have thought of him.
Shang Qinghua let out a small oof noise when the ice demons arm made contact with his stomach as he pretty much flopped down onto the bed, and once again Shang Qinghua laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take a nap before, my king,” he said, allowing Mobei Jun to get comfortable.
With the way Mobei Jun was behaving, it reminded Shang Qinghua of a spoiled cat who demanded attention. It was really cute, and he couldn’t stop smiling.
Humming, he rested his head around Shang Qinghua’s ribs as his arms went to wrap around his waist, and their legs tangled together. “Can’t sleep without you,” he said before letting out a content sigh.
“So… You mean, every time I leave, you won’t sleep?”
Mobei Jun hummed in conformation.
“Ah, I didn’t know.... I’m sorry to keep you waiting this long then. It really wasn’t my fault! The other peak lords here work me to the bone sometimes!”
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you been sleeping?”
Shang Qinghua let out a nervous laugh. Even if he didn’t answer, Mobei Jun could see the dark circles under his eyes, already having his answer. “Honestly, my king… I have the same problem as well. I guess we spoil each other a bit too much.”
Hearing him admit that, Mobei Jun felt something soft twist in his chest. He didn’t need Shang Qinghua to admit such things, but for some reason it was nice to know that Mobei Jun wasn’t the only one, it was nice to know Shang Qinghua sought him out just as much as he did.
Gently, Shang Qinghua started rubbing soothingly at Mobei Jun’s back, making the ice king instantly relax more. “Go to sleep now, love. I’ll wake you up in a while.”
Being surrounded by Shang Qinghua’s warmth and his scent, Mobei Jun felt content and at peace, able to drift off easily.
Although he had insisted that he needed to work, Shang Qinghua found himself drifting not too long after, unable to focus on whatever was written on the papers until he finally thought “fuck it”, pushing the papers off the bed into a heap before wrapping around Mobei Jun, sighing in content before he also fell asleep.