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“San Lang,” whispers Xie Lian, fingers gentle against the younger’s jaw as they lay together. It is a warm, blessed feeling, and Hua Cheng smiles lazily as he presses his hand against Xie Lian’s cheek, their foreheads leaning against each other.
“Ge,” he whispers back, just as lovingly, shapes of beauty painting his entire form. This was the craft of his patience from all those eight hundred years, to have the man he loves in his arms as they brush skin under the romantic gesture of words, their presence enveloping each other in an embrace that leaves everything unspoken known. Hua Cheng loves Xie Lian, and with his lips brought to kiss his, Xie Lian folds against him in all the comfort of returning his love.
Hua Cheng brings his other arm to move beneath Xie Lian’s body, fingers holding up the latter’s back to lean on, right thumb caressing the corner of his lover’s lips. “Xie Lian,” he whispers, adoring, and Xie Lian blushes warmly beneath his hand, the beautiful pattern of pink that taps at his cheeks colour the world. Hua Cheng brings his mouth to Xie Lian’s neck, beneath where his Adam’s apple sits, and he gently kisses him, arm pulling them closer together. The naked feeling of Xie Lian’s stomach against his rushes a sense of longing in Hua Cheng, and he rubs his nose against the exposed skin of Xie Lian’s shoulder.
The latter surrenders beside him, leaning ever closer into the feeling of Hua Cheng’s body, the notion of such a personal feeling sparking the euphoria within his bones, stitched so quietly that all he felt was the peace it brings. Any second spent by Hua Cheng’s side was enough to bring together the immediate feeling of happiness, home that is settled so familiar, and he lets out an airy breath as Hua Cheng tentatively kisses him beneath his jaw.
He kisses him, again, where his throat is exposed after he had tilted his head backwards, and there is teeth that gently bites. The feeling causes Xie Lian to push his body even closer against Hua Cheng’s, and a hand reaches down to hold his waist, burning through his skin like paper where the contact meets.
When Xie Lian falls onto his back, a soft hand catching him, another had reached to his face, fingers so carefully grazing his cheekbone, their noses touching as Hua Cheng moves to press a kiss beside Xie Lian’s mouth. He falls apart, then, succumbed to the fate of Hua Cheng’s delicateness, the fragile beauty of the ironic villain so expertly innocent, Xie Lian reaches upwards to hold Hua Cheng’s face in his hands.
“I love you,” Xie Lian breathes out, as if it is the simple thing that everyone does of habit – inhale the air that consumes us, and to exhale the poison that it provides us. But this air is love, and all the poison is the ache of longing to have them forever in your arms.
Hua Cheng leans against him, forehead pressed against his, and he smiles gently, one so rare and only for Xie Lian to admire. “I love you.”
When their lips touch, there is so much meaning, and Hua Cheng falls apart too, fulfilled in all his purpose that he has waited for. Because this, this, is what he has waited for. Longed for. And it is all worth it.
Xie Lian kisses his cheek as he lays beside him, mouth brushing against his as he cradles his hands. “I love you.”
And he does not add a name, whether it is San Lang the innocence, or whether it is Hua Cheng who feels all of himself is a monster. No matter his name, Xie Lian loves him.
And despite loving him for eight hundred over years, Hua Cheng falls in love with him again, and he presses a gentle kiss against Xie Lian’s nose, thumb brushing over his eye as they rest together. “I love you,” he whispers, contrasting the volume of love that sits in his heart, begging so much to be let out. “Ge.”
Xie Lian chuckles, leaning into the warmth of Hua Cheng’s embrace. “San Lang.”