Chapter Text
The marriage between His Highness the Royal Crown Prince of Xianle and Crimson Rain Sought Flower was a joyous occasion. Gods, ghosts, and humans alike celebrated the union. Heaven rejoiced, and Hell bubbled in anticipation.
For Yin Yu, however, it was not. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t muster any joy towards something – someone – he could never have. He ought to have learned his lesson, but Yin Yu had always been a selfish being. Neither fully god nor ghost, as stained with heavenly light as he was tarnished with demonic power.
Yin Yu had worked for Hua Cheng for many, many years. Too many to keep track of. Every day he worked in the ghost city, corralling ghosts and humans, tasked with as many responsibilities as stars in the sky, the most important of which was to search for Xie Lian.
Yin Yu had never gone a day without hearing Hua Cheng praise Xie Lian in some form. And now that they were getting married, Hua Cheng freely expressed his love instead of being slightly ashamed. Yin Yu had to fetch gifts for the Crown Prince, or sit through dinners where Hua Cheng showered him with adoration.
And the worst part?
Yin Yu was in love. With Hua Cheng. His boss. That was getting married.
He stared down at the wedding invitation in his hands. It was a simple white scroll, with a thin gold border around the edges.
Yin Yu mentally sobbed.
✦✦✦
“Hua Chengzhu. Here’s your wedding gift.” Yin Yu passed over a small box with a respectful bow. Hua Cheng took it, a small tilt to his eyebrows.
“Would Dianxia like to open it?” he asked, already passing it to his husband. Xie Lian smiled and opened the box without any rush.
Inside the box was a golden flower, each petal meticulously crafted and carefully set. Attached to the stem was a silver butterfly, just like Hua Cheng’s. Its wings beat slightly as a breeze wafted through. As his boss inspected the quality of the metal, Yin Yu began to grow nervous.
“Ah, Chengzhu needn’t keep it if he doesn’t—“
“It’s very nice. Thank you,” Hua Cheng interrupted.
“It’s lovely Yin Yu. You’re lovely, thank you.” Xie Lian agreed, smiling oh so softly at Yin Yu. The Waning Moon Officer felt undeserving of such heavenly gazes. Xie Lian then placed the box on a side table before continuing. “Yin Yu, would you like to join us for dinner tonight?”
“I- I wouldn’t dare bother Chengzhu and His Highness.” he spluttered, the ache in his chest growing.
“No no, please. It wouldn’t be any trouble,” Xie Lian assured. “We insist.”
“Alright…” He reluctantly agreed, resigning himself to another evening of sweet glances and deep rooted pricks in his heart in between them.
✦✦✦
Yin Yu cautiously ate, while Hua Cheng and Xie Lian carried on as usual.
“So, Yin Yu, I’ve been wondering,” Xie Lian started, “What exactly do you do for San Lang?”
Yin Yu paused. For the past few hundred years, he’d helped Hua Cheng search for Xie Lian, while monitoring the ghost realm on the side. He debated between telling the truth or lying to make his job seem less…pathetic. It had taken centuries to find a single man, even though he had all the resources needed!
“I manage Ghost city, mostly the smaller tasks behind the scenes such as tending to the Gambler’s Den and warding off unpleasant visitors. Nothing of real importance, truly. Chengzhu is very capable and efficient, so this humble servant has his work cut out for him,” Yin Yu added almost shyly. He spoke as little as he could, curling up slightly in on himself discreetly to make himself smaller. It didn’t help that Hua Cheng was smiling! At him! A genuine smile from Crimson Rain? Yin Yu was so weak.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Hua Cheng turned towards his husband. “Yin Yu practically runs the ghost city. He does more work than me, I assure you.”
“Thank you, Hua Chengzhu,” Yin Yu muttered as he bowed his head slightly. Yin Yu’s face was flushed — from embarrassment! That’s why!
Hua Cheng chuckled delightedly, still smiling directly at him! Yin Yu might pass out. His boss was rarely this nice, certainly never so openly…
✦✦✦
Five Years Earlier
“Yin Yu, any progress regarding Dianxia?”
“No sir.” Yin Yu hung his head.
“Hm, alright,” He sighed. The answer was the same everyday, but Hua Cheng still asked. He fiddled with the silver ring on his middle finger. It twisted between his fingers, back and forth. “Come, sit.”
Yin Yu sat across from Hua Cheng. The table between them had drawings and paintings laid messily. Most of them depicted the Crown Prince of Xianle. Yin Yu didn’t fault Hua Cheng for falling in love, the prince truly was beautiful. And from all the tales, he was kind and generous. Yin Yu was none of those things. How could he ever compete?
Hua Cheng narrowed his eyes, gaze darting around Yin Yu’s face, almost searchingly.
“Stay, don’t move.”
Yin Yu knew better than to ask questions. It had been far too long since he’d found anything about the prince, Hua Cheng was probably annoyed. He watched as the ghost king rummaged through the scattered pieces of parchment. Hua Cheng took hold of one, inspecting it with a serious, complicated expression, before nodding to himself and handing it to Yin Yu.
Yin Yu added it to the remaining documents he was studying.
“You may leave now.” He was probably imagining things, but he could swear there was a note of disappointment in that all too soft dismissal. He was probably going insane, but what’s new?
Yin Yu stood and bowed deeply. He ended up leaving without so much as glancing at the paper. It probably had more information for him to sort through, anyway he’d deal with it later.
Today had been exhausting, maybe he should take a nap…
Yin Yu awoke to moonlight streaming through his window. He groaned and rolled over, burying his face.
“Yin Yu.” Shit. Yin Yu turned his head just enough to peer towards the entryway. His door had been opened without him noticing – and with how loud the hinges were, that was impressive.
“Yes, Hua Chengzhu?” Yin Yu said, voice muffled through his pillow. His boss was standing just inside his room.
“I need a report on the recent damages in the gambling den and an estimate for reconstruction. All the information is on your desk, could I have it by tomorrow night?”
“Yes sir.” Yin Yu sat up and dragged himself to look at the stack of papers piled on his desk. Whatever he was given earlier was probably-
Oh.
Instead of a spreadsheet detailing destruction, Yin Yu’s own face stared back at him. He felt his cheeks slowly warming and his heart threatening to beat right out of his chest. Hua Cheng had one God, one Muse. He had only ever painted His Highness, why…?
He quickly dropped the paper – and train of thought – back onto the desk, next to the pile of the actual reports that had laid underneath. He sent a quick prayer to Heaven that Hua Cheng wouldn’t notice the way Yin Yu’s hands trembled.
“I’ll compile them and get it to you soon,” Yin Yu said, desperately trying to keep his voice even, avoiding Hua Cheng’s eyes.
“See that you do.” And with that he left, never to see the tender way Yin Yu’s shaky fingers caressed the precious parchment in front of him.
✦✦✦
Present Day
Yin Yu now regularly attended meals with Hua Cheng and Xie Lian if they were in Ghost city. They started staying in paradise manor more often, now that their wedding had passed. Yin Yu was starting to have less and less work now that Heaven was functional.
No matter how much Yin Yu thought he was used to the lazy domestic romance, it still stung whenever he saw them exchange a glance, when they were physically close, when he saw a new painting or statue.
His own traitorous mind never letting him forget the sole precious portrait carefully hidden away in his quarters.
It felt like sharp pins being pushed into his heart. He would adjust to it being there, then another would pierce his flesh. Soon enough, there was more metal than tissue, more stone than blood. It weighed him down. And yet, he ought to carry on.
Yin Yu spent more time in his room, as far away from everyone else as possible. After all, out of sight, out of mind, right?
Though most nights he was able to hold back tears, today, sitting on the edge of his bed with his head between his hands, they overflowed.
He silently watched them hit the floor, biting his hand, so hard he nearly drew blood to prevent sobs from escaping.
Yin Yu thought that now that his body had been replaced by stone and metal, he would be fine. Water cannot seep through something so solid, but maybe he’s softer than he thought. Perhaps his blood is cotton. Weighing him down the more water leaks through, holding his sadness within his veins.
“Yin Yu?” lost in his grief as he was, he had failed to notice Hua Cheng entering his quarters.
Just his luck. Fuck.
He quickly wiped his eyes. “Apologies, Hua Chengzhu. May this servant be of any assistance?”
Yin Yu felt his bed shift as Hua Cheng sat beside him. Hua Cheng had his back turned slightly. His face was obscured behind his hair.
Hua Cheng let his knee rest gently against Yin Yu’s own in silent comfort. The latter startled at the unexpected contact, tentatively relaxing when Hua Cheng made no further move.
“You have been working with me for so long, I can barely remember the time when you weren’t.” Yin Yu turned to look towards Hua Cheng, but Hua Cheng’s eyes were focused on his lap, a far away look in them. “At the start, admittedly, I barely spared you a second glance. You were another tool” he spat the word with audible distaste, “in my search for Dianxia. And you had been one of them. It never even crossed my mind to truly trust you, regardless of how desperate you were. I have no idea when I noticed that you’d become so much more but that day–”
Hua Cheng inhaled sharply and he ran a hand through his hair, noticeably agitated. “Everything was so chaotic and I was terrified for Dianxia’s safety, but that’s no excuse. I failed you, Yin Yu.
“I took you for granted for so inconceivably long. I hope one day you can forgive this foolish one’s grave oversight.” He shook his head at something only he knew. “You are endlessly kind and hardworking. I truly can’t phantom how the past centuries would have been had I not had you by my side.
“At first, I was confused. I have always admired and loved Dianxia, my existence was purely maintained by His existence and I did not know what it was like to love another. I had no idea I even could. After all, I have devoted my life, my entire being, to him.
“But then you came. You were always there. You helped me search for him, and you helped me through some of my hardest times. For the longest time I kept trying to convince myself I was just thankful for your help. That I only liked you because there was no one else around me. Yet as the years went by, not only did that feeling not waver, but it grew into something else. The same feeling as when I knelt in front of Dianxia’s shrine.”
Yin Yu grew still.
“I didn’t want to label it as anything. Maybe I was afraid I would “betray” Dianxia. Whatever my reason was, I know what it is now.” Hua Cheng pulled a small box out, and placed it in Yin Yu’s hands.
Within lay an obsidian moon, crafted in the same manner as Yin Yu’s gift to him and his husband.
“Yin Yu, in all 800 years of my existence, I’ve always been convinced there was only one true god, but I’ve been proven wrong.
“Both you and Xie Lian certainly deserve every drop of worship this lowly believer can offer and more.”
Yin Yu felt completely shocked, was this really happening? Truly? Had he finally lost it?
Hua Cheng gently, so very gently, hooked a finger under his chin and tilted his face towards him, the two finally looking in each other’s eyes. Yin Yu couldn’t help but gasp at the fiery devotion he found looking back at him.
“I love you.”
What? Of all the things he was expecting–
“I don’t mind if you don’t feel the same,” Yin Yu wanted to laugh hysterically, because how could he not? “but I’ve spent too long harboring affection and not showing it.”
Maybe it was ok not to be made of stone. Maybe the metal could be extracted. Maybe the cotton could be dried, sadness wrung out and light joy replacing it. He felt the layers crack around him. Surely he’d misheard, surely he was dreaming. His chest was aching still, this time from how full it felt rather than the horridly corrosive emptiness that usually overtook it. For so long, so so long but–
“What about His Highness?” He blurted out before he could stop himself.
Hua Cheng smiled, something so pure Yin Yu felt like he was witnessing something forbidden “He was the one who convinced me to finally talk to you. “ He admitted. “He agrees that you deserve to know how precious you are to me. To us.”
Heaven, if he was dreaming, he really, really, didn’t want to wake up.
“Hua Chengzhu” has his voice always sounded this choked up? “I love you too.”