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Out in the sleepy wonder of the lazy morning, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng sat outside, shirking their chores for just a bit longer. There was no rush for such a thing after all, and Xie Lian enjoyed the quiet moments with his beloved.
Xie Lian had once seen Hua Cheng’s hands and thought to himself how strong they seemed, how elegant and slender they were.
Now he knew them front and back. Though Hua Cheng was a shapeshifter, his fingerprints didn’t change nor did his palm lines. And whether it was personal preference or a notice of what Xie Lian liked, Hua Cheng usually kept his hands that strong and elegant shape he’d first come to know them in.
Pressing his own hand flat to Hua Cheng’s, he admired the way they lined up. The way his palm was slightly bigger but his fingers slightly shorter. The way warmth pooled between their joined palms in spite of Hua Cheng having no body heat of his own. The way Xie Lian could curve his fingers to draw them down the length of his husband’s, tracing over every joint and smiling at the way Hua Cheng’s fingers bent as if trying to chase him.
Tapping slightly, Xie Lian wordlessly ordered his husband to straighten his fingers back out, smiling when the message was received.
He never had a plan when he fiddled with his husband’s hands, but Hua Cheng never had a plan when he worshiped any other part of Xie Lian, so it seemed fitting.
Sometimes he’d spend hours just gently kissing Xie Lian’s back, tracing patterns and whispering his gratitude. Sometimes he’d massage Xie Lian’s calves with unshakable reverence, head bowed low. Or he’d leave his offerings across Xie Lian’s neck or ankle, where the shackles had once sat.
Xie Lian didn’t worship his husband, not in the same way, but he thought the way he played with Hua Cheng’s hands was maybe a bit similar. Not with the same reverence Hua Cheng used, but with love pouring through in the gentle way he traced the lines of his palm and gave a hand massage using no real knowledge besides what felt right.
He loved many parts of his husband. He loved every part of his husband really, but his hands were always accessible.
These were the hands that slipped around his waist or into his own in public so often, it was a simple thing to play with them.
Admittedly he played with them often enough that it was sometimes more for himself than for his husband, but Hua Cheng never minded, seeming to be happy to be held no matter what the reason.
It was just as Xie Lian was starting to wind down from his fiddling that Hua Cheng held out his free hand.
“Gege.”
Without hesitation, Xie Lian put his hand in his husband’s, stilling the movement in his other completely, both hands palm to palm with his husband. “Yes?”
“Do you want a palm reading?” Hua Cheng turned the palm face up in his own, dropping the other hand.
Xie Lian blinked. He’d had a palm reading done many centuries before, but he didn’t really remember it. He hadn’t been that interested in fortune telling. He still wasn’t but: “San Lang can read palms?”
“En. Gege’s palms tell an interesting story.”
Xie Lian waited, intrigued. Everything was more intriguing from his husband’s mouth.
“Hm. Gege has a very good palm. It seems he’s destined to be the most handsome, more than anyone in history or the future. Ah and the divinity gege’s hand reveals is unmatched, no wonder you’re thrice ascended, this is too much godliness for one ascension. Gege’s future seems to be full of good food and a loving marriage. What good fortune.”
Xie Lian snickered. “San Lang, there’s no way my palm says that.”
“Really? I thought gege and I knew the same type of palm reading.”
“Same type? I don’t know palm reading.”
Hua Cheng grinned. “Didn’t gege read this one’s palm when we first met? This San Lang recognized the technique as his own.”
Xie Lian scrunched his face in thought before the memory hit him. He’d just been making up nonsense trying to see if Hua Cheng had fingerprints! He had had his suspicions in the past that Hua Cheng was simply humoring him knowing what he would find, but to hear it confirmed so much later was a bit…
“Would gege like to try to read my palm again? I never did get that love and marriage prediction.”
Holding back laughter, Xie Lian pulled his husband’s hand over, looking at it very seriously. “It says here that San Lang is destined to marry someone who will love him very much.”
“Oh? How much?”
“As much as San Lang loves, his beloved will love in return. It will bring San Lang great happiness.”
“How fortunate, and then what?” Hua Cheng encouraged, playful smile crinkling his eye.
“San Lang and this person will stay married forever and ever. It will get to the point where you’re spoiled rotten.”
“Gege’s fortune is very accurate, unfortunately it’s just telling me things I already know. Isn’t there anything else?”
Xie Lian ran his thumb across his husband’s palm. “Tonight you’ll have meatballs.”
“Oh, gege’s fortunes are so precise,” he complimented.
“Since San Lang and I know the same technique, why doesn’t he give me my love fortune?”
Hua Cheng nodded, taking his hand and looking over it again seriously. “Hm.”
“What?”
“I see something in gege’s very near future…”
“What would that be?”
“It seems…. Gege will get a kiss soon.”
Xie Lian leaned in halfway, smiling into the chaste peck. “San Lang really is incredible making such a prediction.”
“That’s not all I saw gege. I believe you have quite a few kisses coming soon,” Hua Cheng informed him.
“How many?”
“It’s not clear. Has gege ever heard of a lip reading?”
Xie Lian held back laughter. “No, how does it work?”
“First I take gege’s palm like this, and then,” he kissed Xie Lian’s hand, each press of his lips purposeful and gentle. Palm. Each fingertip. The back of his hand. His knuckles. It was only once he finished that he looked up as if surprised.
“What did San Lang discover?”
“Gege… it seems you’ll be receiving an uncountable amount of kisses. More than any other person this San Lang has heard of.”
Xie Lian pulled his husband close. “I heard there’s one other person with such a fortune.”
“Who is it?” Hua Cheng played along.
“My San Lang of course,” Xie Lian grinned.