Work Text:
There was a lot of thunder in Heaven that day. All the heavenly officials were in panic, each one trying to speak louder than the other, questions fusing from every places. Ling Wen was quiet, not because she didn’t have anything to say, but because she was having the worst headache of her life. She was supposed to calm the situation, but she didn’t have the strength in her at the moment.
“I think we’re just overreacting,” Pei Ming said, “So what if Xie Lian got knocked up by Hua cheng? He won’t be the first one to have a child with a ghost, am I right?”
All heads turned forward Feng Xin, silent suddenly overtaking the whole room.
It was only a few seconds, because next thing Ling Wen knew, Feng Xin was lunching himself at Pei Ming, and if the screams from earlier were bad, now it was really that bad.
“Xie Lian, what have you done…”
-----------
There was a lot of noise in Ghost City that day. At first, it was complicated to make out what exactly was happening: some were fighting, some were smiling, and some were even kissing, overtaken by the emotion.
The drunk ones were joyfully claiming their King stigma, and how it wasn’t surprising that he had already put a child into their new lord. Of course, they weren’t minimizing Xie Lian’s role in all of that: it was well known that Xie Lian was always asking for more of his husband.
There was a group having a fight, after two women disagreed on whether or not it was bad luck to buy a present for an unborn child. Another woman, passing by, had been scandalized that anyone would question their lords' good luck, and so she joined the fight, too.
All of them, though, were shining with joy at the prospect of soon welcoming a new heir! How long had they been waiting for that?
-----------
There were only soft sounds coming from Puqi Shrine that day.
Xie Lian was laying on his back, his hand resting on his round belly, right above Hua Cheng’s own hand.
With his other hand’s, Hua Cheng was slowly stroking his hair, blocking the communication array that way, ensuring his husband was focused on him, and only him. They had went into Heaven that day to announce the great news, and Xie Lian had hoped that the other gods would react like the ghosts: showering them with joy and sharing their own happiness.
It hadn’t been the case. He shouldn’t be surprised.
He had seen the way the others were looking at him, some disgust, some outraged. Only Pei Ming had smiled, giving Hua Cheng a thumbs up and winking at Xie Lian.
Mu Qing and Feng Xin hadn’t even been able to look at him, like they did every time there was some implication of Xie Lian having a sex life.
Hua Cheng hadn’t wait, though. He had dropped the news and put his hand around Xie Lian’s waist, taking him back to their home. Their moods had been fairly down after that. Hua Cheng was fuming and blaming himself, while Xie Lian had simply been… Sad. Disappointed, maybe?
It wasn’t enough to take his joy away. One little movement from their baby, and it was enough to make them both forget about the situation. He had taken Hua Cheng’s hand and put it on his belly, assuring him time and time again that this was important. Nothing else.
Hua Cheng had been mesmerized by the movement and had pushed Xie Lian on the bed, devouring him in every way possible, worshiping him so much that Xie Lian had cried from all the sensation.
That was how they were, now: laying on their bed, their bodies sticking together thanks to all the fluids between them.
“Do you think he will look like you?” Xie Lian asked, tracing over Hua Cheng’s fingers.
“No. I think he will look exactly like you.”
“But I want him to look like you,” he admitted. “I want to have a mini San Lang. You were so cute when you were a child.”
“Is Gege saying that I’m not cute anymore?”
Hua Cheng was pouting, but Xie Lian could see how slightly red his face was.
“San Lang is handsome now. Sexy, beautiful, the prettiest man that ever-”
“Alright, alright,” Hua Cheng said, dropping his head into the crock of Xie Lian’s neck. “Then maybe he can look like me. A little. Not too much.”
Xie Lian frowned, not too happy with his husband’s answer. It was dangerous to frown: ever since he was pregnant, Hua Cheng had refused for him to feel anything but happiness and joy. Xie Lian couldn’t even pretend that it was an issue for him. He loved being taken care of by his San Lang.
“Ah, I see we disagree, then,” he mumbled.
“Gege-”
“We need to find a solution,” he said. “Maybe we could make a deal?”
Hua Cheng laughed, pushing himself straight again. Xie Lian couldn’t do so: at only five months, his belly was already becoming difficult to deal with. Sometimes, he suspected that there weren't one but two babies in there. The thought that San Lang would have put two babies into him made him blush furiously.
“You want to make a deal with me, Gege? Do you know you married the Ghost King?”
“Ah, see, since San Lang has been… Giving so much to his Gege, I now have as much luck as you have. Maybe even more!”
Hua Cheng was looking at him with a dark stare, now. He was hungry, and Xie Lian was his favorite food.
“None of that look, this is how we’ve got into this situation.”
“But I love when Gege talks dirty. He looks so sexy like that.”
“Ah San Lang, I’m not the one talking dirty… And you’re distracting me on purpose!”
“Sorry, sorry,” he pushed himself on his belly, holding his head with both his hands. He looked so innocent, like that, and Xie Lian couldn’t help but to caress his jaw gently. “What is the deal, then?”
“The deal,” he said, his voice a bit weak, “is that if our son doesn’t look like you, then… Then you’ll put another one in me. And another, if it’s needed, until I have a whole army of little San Lang.”
This wasn’t what Hua Cheng was expecting, and if his previous stare was bad, now it was even worse.
“San-”
He didn’t have time to finish his sentence because Hua Cheng’s mouth was on him and his own legs were wrapped around his waist.
“I’ll put eight hundred kids into you, Gege. One for each year I have loved you.”
The thought only made him hard. He could see himself, big and pregnant with Hua Cheng’s babies, while all their other children were running around them. He could see his husband, loving him every single night, for eternity.
“Yes,” he moaned. “Please San Lang, yes.”
-----------
There was someone crying inside the restaurant that day. It was happy tears, there were no doubts about that. All the customers were looking at the person, trying to make out what they were saying, without much success. Their partner, being the patron of the restaurant, should have been trying to keep them quiet. Instead, he was yelling, too.
“Ay, make some effort, would you? Are you happy? Are you not happy? What it is with you!”
It only made the person cry more, but they got up and put themselves inside the man’s arms.
“I’m going to be an auntie!” Shi Qingxuan said, a smile on their face. “I cannot wait! I have to be there for the delivery. I need to get him ready for the delivery. And I need to buy presents! Right this instant! Do you understand me??”
“No, I don’t. And I don’t want to.”
Shi Quingxuan didn’t seem to care, instead crying even more.
“We’re going to be the best aunt and uncle in all three realms.”