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It all started on a nice sunny morning in Puqi shrine.
Hua Cheng spent a few h̶o̶u̶r̶s̶ minutes admiring his gege's e̶x̶i̶s̶t̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ beauty. The latter was currently asleep, basking in the sunlight that came from outside, making him look even more ethereal and beautiful and pretty and charming and----
and Hua cheng is pretty sure he started tearing up.
After a few more minutes of Hua Cheng b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ a̶ s̶i̶m̶p̶ staring lovingly at his lover, said lover finally stirs up from his beauty sleep and opens his oh so gorgeous eyes and then.....
beams at Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng is full on crying in his mind right now.
"Good morning San lang~"
Hua Cheng screams. (Internally of course).
"Good morning gege~ How was your sleep?" Hua Cheng asks with a smile while he fixes the stray hair that falls on his gege's face. Xie Lian seems quite happy with the gesture and smiles (even more).
Haha nailed it.
"I had a good rest! All thanks to you my love."
And as he says that, Xie Lian gives Hua Cheng a nice sweet peck at the lips and lovingly stares at his lover and then proceeds to put his arms around said lover.
Completely unaware of what he just caused.
.....𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.
...........𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.
.................𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.
..........
..........
𝘏𝘢.
𝘏𝘢𝘩𝘢.
𝘏𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘩𝘢.
𝘔𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.
In Hua Cheng's moments of silent weakness, Xie Lian begins to worry. Who wouldn't? His Lover suddenly became so stiff he could rival Feng Xin whenever he sees a woman.
"San Lang?"
Hua Cheng is still processing.
"Love???"
Hua Cheng is currently dying.
"OH MY GOD BABY WHY ARE YOU CRYING"
Hua Cheng has ascended to the heavens. (Ha.)
𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚙...𝙱𝚎𝚎𝚙...𝙱𝚘𝚙...
Hua Cheng wakes up to the feeling of someone caressing his forehead. He sits up right and opens his eye, only to see he was still in Puqi Shrine in their humble little mat.
In front of him was his highness. The love of his eternal life. The light that brightens up his dark-
Ehem.
Basically gege was there!
"San Lang! You're awake!" Xie Lian scrambles a bit before leaning close to Hua Cheng's face and slightly pressing the back of his hand to the other's forehead.
𝘞𝘰𝘸. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰. 𝘔𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘨𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴.
"How are you feeling?" Xie lian asks with concern and worry evident in his face.
Oh no. We can't have gege sad now can we?
"May I ask gege what exactly happened? But to answer your question, I feel quite alright."
"Oh good!" Xie Lian sighs in relief. "San Lang suddenly went so sfiff and then went limp! I was worried you died a fourth time!!"
𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘩𝘢.
"Gege doesn't need to concern himself with this lowly one. I'm perfectly alright." Being the sneaky fox that he was, Hua Cheng aimed to prove his point by giving Xie Lian a nice long kiss. And then pulled away just to let out a small smirk. "See?"
This time, it was Xie Lian's turn to process.
-------
It happens again as they're walking along the lively streets of Ghost City.
Xie Lian, being the lovely being he is, wanted to check out the city just so he could check up on the other ghosts.
(Hua Cheng thought it was complete unnecessary considering those beings are all just useless trash. But he was never one to oppose his highness' wishes.)
Soon enough, the ghosts start to notice their Hua Chengzhu and his Highness and proceeded to rush over to the two. (Much to Hua Cheng's displeasure.)
"QUACK! BOSS AND HIS HIGHNESS ARE QUACK! HERE!"
"YES WE CAN SEE THAT YOU STUPID DUCK!"
"BOSS BOSS!!"
Amidst the chaos, Xie Lian tries his best to listen to each and every one's words. (He was and is a God after all. That's his job.)
"WOULD HIS HIGHNESS WANT SOME FRESH MEAT FROM MY STORE-"
"DOES HIS HIGHNESS WANT SOMETHING? I WILL DO MY BEST TO-"
Eventually, Hua Cheng's (very short) patience snaps.
"Give. His. Highness. Some. Space."
"YES BOSS!!"
The ghosts back away a good 20 steps away from them. (They were still in a circle though).
Xie Lian turns to Hua Cheng with a small smile and whispers,, "Thank you sweetheart."
"A-anything for gege."
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩. 𝘈𝘩. 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩.
Hua Cheng DOES NOT in fact passes out. Mind you.
(He did sport a weird tight smile though....)
--------
It happens AGAIN (Much to Hua Cheng's pleasure or displeasure who even knows anymore) during Feng Xin and Mu Qing's monthly visit to Puqi Shrine.
Xie Lian is serving the two some tea (and only tea) since both (aggressively) claimed that they had already eaten before visiting and were still quite full. Xie Lian hands them their hot tea first before sitting down across the two as well.
"So how have you two been?" Xie Lian asks with a smile on his face like the beautiful being he is.
Hua Cheng, on the other hand, was behind said beautiful being, glaring at the two u̶s̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ t̶r̶a̶s̶h̶ who sat across his wonderful gege. Having enough of glaring daggers at them, Hua Cheng takes a seat beside his lover and c̶l̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ lightly puts his arms around the other.
(Which makes Feng Xin's eye twitch and another 10/10 eye roll from Mu Qing.)
"We've been good your highness."
"Mn."
"I trust that you two are getting along well?"
"Of course we are."
"Of course not."
......
"What the fuck Mu qing."
"What."
"We're literally married now."
"And? Just because we have matching rings that declare our love in our fingers, doesn't mean that I immediately like your stupid face."
"EXCUSE ME."
The conversation goes like that with Feng Xin letting out his colorful vocabulary, more eye rolls from Mu qing, and Xie Lian (nervously) trying to break the two apart.
Hua Cheng eventually places his head on Xie Lian's lap and soon enough feels delicate fingers running through his hair. Ah. So nice. If Hua Cheng wasn't a ghost king, and knew how annoying the Heavenly realm was (except for his gege of course! Gege can never be annoying!), he would have claimed that this is what Heaven feels like.
The conversation finally calms down and the usual chatter goes on and soft fingers are still carding through black locks. Hua Cheng lets out a (happy) sigh and buries his face in Xie Lian's stomach which makes the latter giggle and look down at him.
"Are you feeling alright honey?"
𝘖𝘩 𝘨𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦.
Hua Cheng just nods his head while still having his face buried in Xie Lian's tummy.
Feng Xin lets out another shuddering sigh while Mu qing just stares disgustingly.
This time, Hua Cheng screams in Black water's communication array.
(He Xuan just groans his frustrations out.)
-------
A few days pass and Hua Cheng has eventually gotten used to his gege's name calling (although he still squeals inside) and now they're currently laying on Hua Cheng's soft crimson bed in paradise manor.
With Xie Lian's head resting on Hua Cheng's arm and face buried in the latter's chest, Hua Cheng softly plays with his lover's hair. He presses a soft kiss on the other's forehead and snuggles closer. Xie Lian finally un-buries his face from a broad chest and looks up to crimson and black eyes.
"I love you my sweet and precious steamed bun."
Hua Cheng stills for a few seconds before his lips start to quiver and then lets out the loudest, boisterous laugh ever.
Xie Lian stares at his lover (who is still laughing his ass off even though it's been a few minutes already).
"San Langggg!" Xie Lian whines and tugs on his lover's arms. "Don't laugh at meeee" Another whine. and then a pout.
Hua Cheng looks down to his adorable lover a̶n̶d̶ a̶l̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ g̶e̶t̶s̶ a̶ h̶e̶a̶r̶t̶ a̶t̶t̶a̶c̶k̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ h̶e̶ d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'t̶ h̶a̶v̶e̶ a̶ h̶e̶a̶r̶t̶ and finally stops laughing to poke at the other's lips.
"I apologize gege but I was just....caught off guard." Hua Cheng tries his best to look serious while staring at the other's pretty eyes, and desperately trying to stop himself from snickering at the thought.
"San Lang is so mean. Making fun of me like that..." Xie Lian pouts even more but it was clear that he was trying his best not to laugh too. Hua Cheng smiles at this and gives his lover another forehead kiss before swooping down to boop the other's nose too.
"May I ask gege why he suddenly calls me with such...adorable names?" Hua Cheng smiles at the other and tries not to squeal when he sees the adorable flush on his lover's cheeks and the tip of his ears.
"Ah well..." Xie Lian looks away before muttering a few rushed words. "Ireadsomewherethatourrelationshipwillblossomevenmoreifistartcallingyoupetnames."
"Hm? Can gege say it again? I didn't quite catch that." Hua Cheng innocently asks while fluttering his eyes that make him look like a child asking for a cookie.
Oh but he did catch that.
"Now San Lang is just teasing me again..."
"I would never!"
Xie Lian fondly rolls his eyes at this and then takes a deep breath before blurting out,,
"I said...I READ SOMEWHERE THAT OUR RELATIONSHIP WILL BLOSSOM EVEN MORE IF I START CALLING YOU PET NAMES." a sigh. "there. I expect that this time San Lang heard it nice and clear?" Xie Lian asks with a flush of red still displayed on his cheeks.
Hua Cheng softly laughs at this and kisses his lover's nose again.
H̶e̶ c̶a̶n̶ d̶o̶ w̶h̶a̶t̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ h̶e̶ w̶a̶n̶t̶s̶. S̶u̶e̶ h̶i̶m̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ h̶i̶s̶ g̶e̶g̶e̶ i̶s̶ s̶o̶ a̶d̶o̶r̶a̶b̶l̶e̶.
"Yes. Loud and clear." Hua Cheng lets out another laugh at Xie Lian's embarassed and pouty face before consoling him and telling the latter that he likes the pet names and wouldn't be bothered by being called a sweet and precious steamed bun again.
The silent night is filled with embarassed whines of "San Langgg stop it" and more loud laughs consisting of "Oh how could I stop when gege is so cute like this" and the cycle goes on.
When they both calm down and finally go to sleep, with both embracing the other, Xie Lian just groans but blushes anyways, when Hua Cheng bids goodnight with his own little pet name.
"Good night 我的花"