Work Text:
Luo Binghe had cleaned up his husband the best he could with only a wet cloth. This meant that he could only get rid of the most visible evidence of their lovemaking from last night, and he knew his husband would require a better cleaning tomorrow, which he usually took care of by himself despite Binghe's protests, accompanied by whining and some crocodile tears.
This morning though, Binghe had decided he's going to persuade his husband into letting himself be fully taken care of.
He knew his husband wouldn't give in so easily, but he also knew about the slight pain he'd going to be complaining about in the morning (which Binghe really did feel bad about!), which Binghe could just as well use as an excuse to get Shen Qingqiu to let himself relax and trust Binghe to take care of him with all the affection and love he held.
The plan was foolproof.
As usual, Binghe woke up first, with his shizun's legs wrapped around his waist, and an arms thrown carelessly around Binghe's torso. Although not too unusual of his husband, Binghe was still immediately filled with a soft warmth at the sight. He couldn't bear just immediately leaving his usually aloof husband like this, could he? So he took a few minutes to adore and admire his usually very cold, aloof and dignified Shizun, clinging to him so much as to bring tears to his eyes.
Eventually Binghe managed to pull away regretfully, to go and prepare something nice and soft for him to eat. It'd also have to be extra good so that it'd be easier to get shizun to agree to his idea of being taken care of.
Binghe walked out of the bamboo house as quietly as possible to make sure his shizun would not wake up. He silently shut the door, and with a wide, hopeful smile on his face, he walked towards the kitchen, wanting to prepare breakfast for his husband, so he'd have food to eat immediately when he woke up.
It took about an hour to finish making breakfast, way too long for Binghe to be away from his husband. So, to make up for the lost time with his shizun, every ten minutes or less, he had ran back to the bamboo house to check on Shen Qingqiu, who each time, stayed in bed, still deep asleep, hugging Binghe's pillow and mumbling some incoherent words, all while Binghe's heart was melting into fluid that filled his whole body with warmth. It was a sight he would never let himself forget.
Once he had finally finished the food, he impatiently walked with it back to the bamboo house, where Shen Qingiu was still comfortably cuddled against Binghe's pillow. (There's no way Binghe would leave his husband to sleep by himself, not even if it meant he'd die of the overflowing affection in him.)
Bighe set two portions of very soft, white congee on the table. His husband must have woken up from the noise, because Binghe heard a slightly frustrated and confused but very adorable whine-y noise, coming from the direction of the bed the two share.
He smiled and walked in, to see his gorgeous husband sitting up on the bed, hair messy and eyes sleepy, robes slightly disheveled, revealing a small lovebite on his shoulder.
"Morning, Shizun."
Binghe's announcement of his precence seemed to have startled Shen Qingqiu a little, because he made a small noise of surprise, and tried to close his robes.¨
"Ah, morning Binghe."
Shen Qingqiu answered lazily with a unnoticeable yawn, and got up from the bed to go get dressed.
Before he could stand up though, he grunted a little and stretched his back, brows softly furrowed.
"Would shizun like this husband to massage his back to ease the pain?"
Binghe offered as he walked over to help his husband dress.
"Yes I would like that, ah, Binghe I can dress myself!"
Shen Qingqiu exclaimed, as Binghe had started to undress him from the inner robes that were already only loosely on him.
"Mn."
Binghe replied as an acknowledge, but did nothing to stop what he was doing."
"This husband was hoping Shizun would let him take care of you the whole day today, so shizun can relax without having to worry about doing anything."
Binghe continued a little more silently, with a soft affectionate smile, as he turned to look at Shen Qingqiu again, after putting away the dirty robes he had worn to bed.
Shen Qingqiu had a thoughtful look on his face, before he sighed and agreed.
"Alright, but this master is exhausted from..."
He blushed as he remembered, and continued
"From last night... and wishes to eat now, but I'll be in your hand for today."
Binghe's eyes lit up and he hugged Shen Qingqiu, kissed him all over his face, and happily finished helping his husband dress up, despite his weak words of protest, which seemed to be lessening every time Binghe asked him for something.¨
The walked together to the table, sat down and started eating. Or, Shen Qingqiu started eating, while Binghe's mind was stuck on whether his husband would let him assist him with bathing if he asked, or would he just get a smack on the head with his fan.
Shen Qingqiu seemed to notice his mind being elsewhere, and with the other brow raised he asked
"Why is my husband not eating?"
Binghe's head came quickly back to reality, when he heard himself being addressed as "husband".
The smile on his face just widened, his head tilting slightly forward shyly, towards his still untouched snow white congee.
"Ah, sorry. This husband was wondering if he could assist shizun with bathing, to help him relax by washing his hair."
He looked up to meet Shen Qingqiu's eyes, a hopeful glint in his eyes and a slight blush forming on his cheeks. This was indeed something Binghe had never gotten to do before, and he really wished to finally get to really show his care towards his husband.
Shen Qingqiu picked up his fan and opened it in front of his face, covering most of it but still leaving his eyes visible. He looked at Binghe as if examining him for a moment, until he finally seemed to come to a decision and nodded slightly in approval.
"After breakfast, this master was hoping to go together for a small walk in the bamboo forest, and after that we can get ready for bathing."
He said thoughtfully, hiding his still obvious blush behind the fan.
Binghe simply nodded, despite the burning need to jump up and drown his husband in hugs and soft kisses, but held it back as not to break his shizun's thin face.
"This husband will gladly walk with you. Does shizun want more congee?"
Binghe smiled, almost blindingly.
"This master had had his fill."
"Was the food to shizun's liking?"
Binghe asked, not so subtly fishing for compliments, as he started gathering the dished.
"Mn, very good Binghe, this master appreciates your cooking very much."
He answered honestly, giving Binghe a head pat as well.
After Binghe had finished cleaning the dished, he and Shen Qingqiu went out to walk in the bamboo forest for a bit. It was very peaceful, and Binghe enjoyed every moment of it.
"Shizun, the bathwater is ready."
Binghe walked in the bedroom, to see his shizun already mostly undressed except for only one layer of robes. He was sitting on the side of the bed, untying his still messy hair.
"Thank you, Binghe. You can go now."
Shen Qingqiu replied absentmindedly, most likely forgetting that he had promised to let Binghe bathe him.
"Didn't shizun promise to let this husband bathe him today?"
Binghe reminded, putting up a quite see-through act of pouting.
"Ah, right right, forgive this husband."
Shen Qingqiu corrected himself, finally managing to let his hair fall loose on his shoulders, which Binghe just adored.
"Then shall we go?"
Binghe asked, taking the hair tie from Shen Qingqiu's hands and putting it aside, all while showing his husband a soft smile.
"Mhm, let's go."
Shen Qingqiu dipped his hand in the water, to test the temperature, and once decided that it was the exact temperature he preferred, he got in and laid down comfortably.
Binghe was still taking off the unnecessary robes, but once he was done with undressing, he walked to his husband and kissed his forehead sweetly.
"Would it be fine if this husband started caring for shizun's hair now?"
Shen Qingqiu just hummed in response, and Binghe carefully took his hair from under his head and gathered it, to start with the task his husband had trusted to him. He would not disappoint.
He started with softly untangling the hair that was surprisingly tightly tangled together. He was careful as to not to pull or cause any discomfort to his husband, and took his time doing it carefully, all while admiring and feeling the softness of it.
With his fingers, he went through the worst of knots and tangles, getting some reassuring hums from his husband from time to time.
Once he thought that he had taken enough time playing with his husbands hair, he decided to move to the next part.
He took a few different jars from the small shelf on the wall, and dipped his hand in one of them to get a small amount of it. Starting from the scalp, he started spreading the oil around Shen Qingqiu's hair, massaging his head softly at the same time. He gained more happy hums and sighs of comfort, and decided to keep massaging his scalp for a little longer, until he moved his hands to follow the long strands of hair all the way to the end of the last strand.
"Does husband like it when I massage his scalp?"
binghe asked, while still carefully spreading the nurturing oil through each strand of hair, careful not to hurt his husband.
"Mnn, it feels very nice Binghe, where'd you learn to do it?"
Shen Qingqiu hummed happily, seemingly now fully relaxed under Binghe's attentive touch.
"Shizun sometimes makes similar motions when petting thing Binghe's hair."
Binghe replied truthfully, happy to hear that he has been able please his husband.
"Hmmn."
Shen Qingqiu hummed again, falling back to the relaxing silence, letting Binghe take care of him fully.
After a little while of Binghe massaging his scalp, Binghe took another, smaller bowl of water, and started rinsing off the oil he had spread carefully in Shen Qinqiu's hair. Then afterwards moving on to the next oil and repeating the process.
Once Binghe had finished the second round of rinsing off the oils, Shen Qingqiu actually pulled Binghe in the tub with him.
"Mn, next time, this Husband will tend to Binghe's hair."
He hummed lazily as he sat in the tub in his husband's lap.
"This husband would be delighted."
Binghe replied happily, nuzzling his neck and playing with his soft, clean hair.
Shen Qingqiu turned around in Binghe's lap to face him.
"I love you, husband."
He said, burying himself in Binghe's shoulder, and staying there, relaxed and content.
Binghe kissed his head, and rubbed some soothing circles in his back with his fingers. He was so happy.
They had been bathing for a long time, and once they had finished washing themselves off, they moved out of the bathing room, and went to sit on the bed.
Binghe was, again, very carefully, drying his husband's silky, black hair with a towel, listening to the soft hums and praises he received for no apparent reason.
Once they were both nice and dry, in clean clothes, they laid down on the bed together, cuddling each other with silent affection, playing with each other's hair and giving each other some random kisses, until Shen Qingqiu managed to convince Binghe that he won't disappear if Binghe leaves him for a while to make food, because Shen Qingqiu was getting a little hungry, although still slightly reluctant to leave Binghe's side. Who else would cook for him if not Binghe, hm? Not like he knew how to cook himself anyways- cough-