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Xie Lian settled into the water with a sigh, debating whether or not he was going to bother with washing his hair today. He’d brushed it beforehand fully intending to, but now that it was time his motivation wavered. It would’ve been easier if he’d popped over to Paradise Manor to do it, the baths there were bigger, but he really did have more work to do at Puqi shrine and couldn’t be bothered going back and forth when he had a perfect good water barrel here and plenty of logs Hua Cheng insisted on keeping cut and ready. Xie Lian suspected his husband just liked the excuse to strip his top layers and show off a bit, but he appreciated the gesture all the same.
If he was going to wash it he should do it now, while Hua Cheng was busy taking care of his own affairs. After all, Xie Lian knew his motivation to do such a tedious chore would drastically deplete if spending time with his husband was an easily accessible alternative. He just had to—
“Gege, I’m home.” Hua Cheng walked in, only mildly surprised to find Xie Lian undressed.
Xie Lian’s hand unconsciously came up to toy with the ring that had been resting over his heart as he smiled up at his husband. “San Lang is home early.”
Hua Cheng came to sit by the barrel, leaning over to kiss him in greeting. Gone were the days of him being embarrassed to see Xie Lian bathe. The sight was a familiar one to him by now. “En. This one worked very hard to get back to you quickly. Doesn’t gege think he deserves a reward?”
Shaking his head fondly, Xie Lian sighed. “Later. I still have a few things to sort out before I’m finished for the night. San Lang can just relax until then.”
Xie Lian was wholly unsurprised when his husband settled in to watch him bathe. It was actually fairly common for Hua Cheng to watch him do odd tasks like this. At first it had been curious, then embarrassing, but now Xie Lian felt nothing but love at the awareness of that eye on him.
“Your highness?” The title was half a sigh, half a whisper.
Xie Lian looked over all the same, smiling softly at him. “Hm?”
“This one knows what he wants for his reward.”
“Is that right?”
“En. May this humble follower wash your highness’ hair?”
It was the type of request that would have left Xie Lian flustered to no end when they first married, especially when Hua Cheng asked like this— full of such genuine love and reverence. It made Xie Lian feel cared for in a way he had never before been, or if he had he had certainly never appreciated it before. But now Xie Lian was drunk on his husband’s affections and the act of being loved came easier. Hua Cheng’s earnest devotion no longer had to cut through walls built by centuries of practice holding others at a distance to maintain independence, for Xie Lian had long since given him the key. It helped (and had once embarrassed him terribly) that he knew with no uncertainty Hua Cheng truly did consider the chance to do such a task a reward.
“Alright,” Xie Lian replied, more whisper than words. It wouldn’t be the first time Xie Lian had let him and though he really did prefer to do it quickly himself, he couldn’t refuse anything his husband asked in such a tone.
Xie Lian was rewarded in turn, watching as Hua Cheng seemed to light up in almost innocent adoration, as if he was hearing Xie Lian say ‘I love you’ for the first time again. Unable to help himself, Xie Lian leaned forward, blessing his most devoted believer with a chaste kiss.
Hua Cheng followed as he pulled away, as if the string that joined them tied their mouths instead of their fingers, and Xie Lian couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Letting out his own small laugh, Hua Cheng shook his head.
“This one had only innocent intentions and your highness is trying to distract him.”
Xie Lian laughed again at that. “Am I not allowed to kiss my husband?”
Hua Cheng melted at the title, leaning against the barrel. “I suppose if that’s what pleases your highness, I will have to allow it,” he teased.
Xie Lian squeezed the ring as if trying to pour his love into it through sheer force of will. He didn’t remember when he’d reached back up for it. Maybe he had never let it go.
They stared at each other like that a few moments more, simply smiling like fools, before Hua Cheng seemed to remember himself.
“Will your highness turn his back to me?” He readjusted to get in a better position over the barrel.
Xie Lian nodded, turning around and rolling the ring between his fingers as he heard Hua Cheng collecting his hair. It was long enough he couldn’t really feel it, but the gentle motions sent little ripples that made the water shift around him a bit as he listened to the slick sounds of soaps more befitting the baths of Paradise Manor than the little water barrel of Puqi Shrine.
Then Hua Cheng’s slender fingers reached his scalp and Xie Lian tilted his head back to give his husband easier access. Xie Lian considered washing his hair to be a neutral task. Neither something he looked forward too nor dreaded. Like eating or sleeping, it had to be done, so it was. He would not go so far as to say he looked forward to the times Hua Cheng washed his hair for him, but he could admit at least it was a very different experience.
He knew these were the same soaps he would have used himself, yet it was like the scent was completely different when worked in by his husband. And it wasn’t as though the fingers massaging his scalp employed a special skill Xie Lian didn’t know, yet he still found himself relaxing, releasing tension even as he held his body at an odd angle in the small barrel to give Hua Cheng better leverage.
The fingers left and Xie Lian opened his eyes. When had he closed them? He supposed it didn’t really matter. He brought the ring up to kiss almost absentmindedly as he heard Hua Cheng begin to sing. He didn’t know what the words were, but he knew what they meant. Just as Hua Cheng only ever wished to copy Ache of Separation, he only ever seemed to want to sing this particular song in a language Xie Lian had never heard. Still, these foreign words were engraved in his soul by now, and he knew without a doubt the song his husband sang was a love song.
If he had been washing his own hair, Xie Lian would’ve simply dunked his head under the water to clear out the soap. He had, in fact, done just that the first time Hua Cheng had washed his hair. He had proceeded to spend the next half hour laughing and apologizing to his shocked and disgruntled husband who had looked almost betrayed by the fact Xie Lian hadn’t known to wait for him to gather his smaller bucket for rinsing Xie Lian’s hair himself. After much insistence that there was nothing wrong, Hua Cheng had eventually seemed to mean it, swayed by kisses and the promise that next time Xie Lian would let him rinse the hair too. That “next time” had left Hua Cheng starry eyed with the prospect of the future and renewed his spirit.
By now there had been many “next times”, yet Hua Cheng never seemed to lose his enthusiasm for the chance to perform his unorthodox worship, and Xie Lian only found himself gaining more enthusiasm for it. He knew when Hua Cheng sang that he was happy. Even without the song he wouldn’t have had to look behind him to know his husband was smiling now. Still, the song seemed to confirm it for Xie Lian in a way that made his heart sing right alongside the deep and pleasant crooning of his husband.
Hua Cheng quieted suddenly and Xie Lian looked back.
“Are you okay?”
Hua Cheng didn’t seem upset, but his brow was quirked and his smile a bit stunned. “When did you learn the tune?”
“What?”
“You were humming along with me,” there was the ghost of a laugh in Hua Cheng’s words, like his happiness couldn’t help but scramble through the awe he felt.
Xie Lian blushed. “I was?” He really hadn’t realized at all.
Hua Cheng’s expression became complicated, like he was overwhelmed with emotion, but all of them seemed positive, so Xie Lian didn’t worry. Schooling his expression slightly to reign it into unfathomable fondness, Hua Cheng leaned forward to kiss his cheek, laughing as Xie Lian turned around to face him fully and kiss him properly. His hands moved from the ring to Hua Cheng’s neck, looping lazily around him.
“I haven’t finished washing your hair, your highness,” Hua Cheng smiled against his lips.
“This time San Lang is the one who was being distracting.”
Xie Lian swallowed his husband’s laughter, matching smiles on both their faces when he pulled away.
“Is that right?”
Xie Lian nodded solemnly. “He looked much too handsome and since his mouth was no longer occupied singing I couldn’t help myself.”
The words would have been embarrassing, but Hua Cheng blushed first and helped Xie Lian save face.
“Your highness is sabotaging this one’s promised reward,” Hua Cheng accused playfully, nothing but love in his eyes.
“Then if I behave will San Lang grant me a reward?” Xie Lian shot back.
Hua Cheng’s gaze darkened. “Oh? What reward does his highness desire?”
Xie Lian shivered, eyes falling closed as he brushed his nose against Hua Cheng’s. “Teach me the song. How to sing it properly I mean.”
Hua Cheng fell silent again and when Xie Lian opened his eyes, he saw his husband looking back, so fondly and so clearly touched that it nearly stole Xie Lian’s breath away.
“Yes, your highness. Anything you desire.” The words were thick with emotion. Though Xie Lian had never asked directly, he could tell the song held some significance for Hua Cheng. It was beyond it simply being his favorite song, but something more private. More precious.
Xie Lian gave him one last kiss before pulling away and turning around again. When Hua Cheng began singing the song again, he sang it a bit louder this time. Xie Lian let out a pleased noise, letting the song gently wash over him as Hua Cheng finished readying the bucket and moved to let it wash Xie Lian too.
Foreign words and water washed out Xie Lian’s tension once more as Hua Cheng’s nimble fingers combed through to make sure all the soap ran out. When he got to Xie Lian’s scalp, he held a firm but gentle hand at his hairline to keep the water off of Xie Lian’s face. It was a simple action. An unnecessary one even, given how Xie Lian usually bathed. But it was one full of care and intention and Xie Lian couldn’t help the way his heart swelled at it every time. The water trickled down, Hua Cheng’s devotion pouring over him in gentle waves like the water that lapped against him in the barrel. The position was not the most comfortable. It would have been far easier and faster to wash it himself. But today at least, in this moment at least, the act of washing his hair was no longer a task to be checked off his list.
It was an act of devotion.