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Mornings were usually a slow affair. Hua Cheng nearly always woke up first and Xie Lian hardly could be bothered to leave the loving embrace of his husband. Besides, it wasn’t like they had anything urgent to attend to.
Today Xie Lian traced his name along his husband's arm. As awful as the handwriting was, the demonic calligraphy always filled his heart with warmth. Even more so for this writing. How could he possibly feel anything but loved at the knowledge that his husband had thought he was worthy of having his name forever on his skin?
"Does gege like it that much?" Hua Cheng smiled, and Xie Lian only felt more softness unfurl in his chest, cuddling closer on the bed.
In response, Xie Lian leaned in to kiss the tattoo, earning a kiss to the top of his head in return.
"Maybe this one should stop practicing calligraphy then. It would be a shame if my style changed and gege didn't get to see it anymore."
Xie Lian snorted. "Your tattoo won't be legible just because your handwriting is."
Hua Cheng gasped, pouting. "Gege! You said you liked my writing."
"I like everything about San Lang." He pressed another kiss to the cool, decorated skin. "You still have to do your calligraphy practice."
Hua Cheng huffed and flopped onto his back, but made sure not to move his arm from Xie Lian's touch. "Gege can already read it, what does it matter?"
"No one else can." Xie Lian tried to sound stern, but it was clear he was holding back laughter.
"Who else needs to read this one's writing? Most of Ghost City is illiterate."
"Yin Yu isn't."
"I can just use the personal communication array to talk to him."
Xie Lian sat up. "San Lang, you aren't getting out of your lesson, I already wrote out your practice lines for today."
Seeing his tattoo no longer held Xie Lian's attention, Hua Cheng threw it over his eyes. "Gege I'm terribly sick today."
"Is that right?" Xie Lian watched this tantrum with an amused smile.
"It's true gege, I've got a terrible chill, feel."
Playing along, Xie Lian pressed a hand to his husband's forehead. As expected, a ghost's body was cold. "Oh no, my San Lang is cold. Whatever will we do?"
Hua Cheng gave the fakest sniffle Xie Lian had ever heard. Mighty, murderous, and terrifying Ghost King. 'Killer' of thirty-three and a half gods. The Heavens and Ghost City alike would die of shock if they could see him now.
"If gege stayed and cuddled me I might recover."
Xie Lian scooted closer, arms wrapping around his husband's waist. Always so trusting, Hua Cheng hugged him back, clearly thinking he'd won the battle this time. Unfortunately for him, Xie Lian was feeling a bit like bullying him today. Xie Lian yanked his husband upright, laughing at the disgruntled groan.
"Gege, I'm sickly. Are you really going to make your sickly husband work? I'm so cold. If I leave your arms I may freeze."
"I can hold you while you practice. Like when we make dinner."
"I suppose since gege has left me no other choice. Such a strict tutor." Hua Cheng wrapped his legs around him, clearly expecting Xie Lian to carry him there. He might have teased his husband about it if he hadn't done exactly the same thing last night after falling asleep in the bath. To tease him for it now would be the pot calling the kettle black, no doubt Hua Cheng would turn the teasing back on him.
Adjusting his husband slightly, Xie Lian moved them out of bed and over to start practicing. "You can have a kiss for each sheet you finish."
"Can't this San Lang get a kiss to keep him going? Otherwise my heart may freeze over, gege." He truly sounded pitiful.
"Really?" Xie Lian asked, doing his best to appear serious.
"En. It's very dangerous." Hua Cheng puckered his lips.
"Then I hope my San Lang can finish the first sheet quickly, I would hate for his heart to freeze over." Xie Lian replied mercilessly.
Clearly offended, Hua Cheng turned to do his calligraphy as sloppy as possible. Truly... was this even calligraphy anymore? But, as per the rules, he finished his first sheet and turned for his kiss.
"Do it seriously." Xie Lian tried to hold back his smile as he put a hand over Hua Cheng’s mouth. Tricky, evil Supreme, Crimson Rain Sought Flower. Xie Lian must have been spoiling him too much recently.
Giving Xie Lian a truly childish glare with absolutely no teeth behind it, Hua Cheng turned back around, shifting instead into doing his calligraphy as painfully slow as possible.
"You're doing so well." Xie Lian encouraged, starting to feel a bit bad now. That was probably exactly what Hua Cheng's goal had been, but Xie Lian was much too far gone in his love for his husband to particularly mind that it had worked.
Besides it wasn't like Hua Cheng was any less weak to him, perking up a little at the praise in spite of his abandoned lover act.
Xie Lian stifled a laugh, squeezing his husband tighter in his arms. "Your strokes are so clean. My San Lang holds the brush so much better now. Ah, your hand is so steady,” He rained down as many praises as he could think of until his husband finally finished and promptly dropped the brush to steal kisses.
It was with great difficulty that Xie Lian managed to pull away. “One. You get one kiss. I know you’re trying to distract me.” Admittedly, it was sort of working. Xie Lian couldn’t help but nuzzle back at his husband, allowing himself to give a few smooches to Hua Cheng’s cheeks.
“Gege’s words say one thing but his mouth is saying another,” Hua Cheng grinned, realizing Xie Lian was already beginning to crack. He was underestimating Xie Lian’s willpower though.
Pulling back, Xie Lian nudged Hua Cheng to turn forward towards the practice again. “I’m sorry San Lang, did I confuse you? It won’t happen again,” he promised wickedly.
“Gege hates me.” Hua Cheng grumbled, but picked up the brush all the same.
“I’d give you kisses while you work like you give me, but San Lang has proven he can’t handle that kind of distraction.”
“Gege is just being needlessly cruel at this point. Besides,” Hua Cheng practiced at a normal speed now, though he had to work a bit slower than most to get a legible piece. “It’s not as though gege is immune to distraction either.”
Well, Xie Lian couldn’t really argue that. Kissing his husband had, admittedly, been the source of at least five ruined dinners in the past month alone.
“That’s why I know better than to distract you.”
“I like when you distract me,” Hua Cheng replied cheekily.
“You like anything that gets you out of calligraphy.”
Hua Cheng set down his brush again, finished with his next sheet. “That’s not fair. Gege knows he’s my favorite distraction.”
Smiling, Xie Lian rewarded his husband with another kiss. “Again.”
“Another kiss?” Hua Cheng asked hopefully.
“Another sheet.” Xie Lian corrected, but gave him another kiss anyways. What was the harm? It wasn’t as if his husband could get too much more spoiled.
Hua Cheng sighed as if terribly put out, but he was smiling too. “I don’t know why gege is so obsessed with calligraphy practice.”
“San Lang looks like a scholar when he does calligraphy. Very handsome and smart.”
Hua Cheng grinned back at him. “And then you look at what I’ve done?”
Xie Lian laughed. “Yes, and then I see what you’ve done.”
Hua Cheng hummed, clearly done acting pitiful for now, as if distracted by the compliments and Xie Lian’s laughter. “There are other things I can do if gege wants me to look like a scholar. Gege knows I love a new disguise.”
Xie Lian tried to picture it. “San Lang would look handsome…”
By the time he saw the glint in Hua Cheng’s eye it was too late. Already his husband had latched onto the opportunity to do literally anything else with Xie Lian, getting up and changing skins and outfits with ease.
Xie Lian was mostly sure Hua Cheng didn’t actually hate calligraphy that much, and just tried to get out of it as a continued joke of sorts. He had been a bit uncomfortable with it at first. He didn’t like appearing anything less than perfect in front of Xie Lian. But years of marriage and lots of spoiling had fixed that and left only the playful attempts at truancy.
And Xie Lian had to admit… this was a good attempt. Just as he’d thought, Hua Cheng looked very fetching as a scholar. He’d be a good one, Xie Lian thought, if not for his terrible writing. He had a tongue to rival civil gods and endless trivia about various locations. He excelled in painting and, though he had to truly be pressed to acknowledge poems beyond his favorite, he had memorized all the classics and could compose his own when he was feeling especially dedicated to making Xie Lian blush.
Yes. It really was just the calligraphy holding him back.
“San Lang is the most beautiful scholar I’ve ever seen.”
Hua Cheng held his head high at the words.
Xie Lian reached out for him. “Do you know what would make San Lang even more handsome?”
Hua Cheng leaned in, indulging him in a kiss that interrupted their conversation for a moment, though neither of them minded. “What would, gege?”
Xie Lian leaned in to whisper in his ear. “If you finished your calligraphy practice.”
Hua Cheng tried to look offended when he pulled away but they were both laughing. “Fine, since gege has a heart made of stone, I will.”
“Very handsome,” Xie Lian murmured, barely holding back laughter as Hua Cheng nestled against him and picked up the brush again. And he was. Xie Lian had never known anyone more handsome.