Work Text:
Xie Lian finds a good birthday present for Hua Cheng. It's going to be very embarrassing but worthwhile.
The device is long, but narrow and not too difficult to hide beside the bed.
Xie Lian wakes before Hua Cheng, ready and waiting to carry out his plan. The present is retrieved and held pressed to his chest, concealed only by the sheets. At Hua Cheng's first stirring, he breaks his script and leans in to kiss his beloved husband awake.
As Hua Cheng kisses back, with mounting passion —this is precisely why kissing was not included at this point of the plan, Xie Lian can feel his heart start to race in anticipation— a hand wanders up Xie Lian's chest. Hua Cheng stops. Fingers trace the looping tube up to the split.
"Gege?"
"San Lang." He smiles as he says it, rolling away and onto his back. He can't quite use his words, not without betraying his intentions for this gift, so he only beckons Hua Cheng to follow.
Leaning over him, propped on both arms, Hua Cheng is perfectly positioned.
"Happy birthday San Lang." He quells his smile and takes a deep breath before reaching up and setting the earpieces in place.
Hua Cheng looks at him, clearly curious and waiting for him to explain.
Xie Lian closes his eyes, and empties his mind. Hua Cheng waits patiently, and the thought of that makes him have to restart the process all over again. Eyes still shut, heart and mind tranquil, Xie Lian brings the piece on the other end of the tube to rest over his heart.
Hua Cheng is a ghost, and requires no breath. Still, he hears a gasp and knows he chose well.
Xie Lian opens his eyes, and Hua Cheng's awed and adoring face is waiting there to set his heart thundering. His beloved's smile grows with every quickening beat.
"Gege!" A joyful exclamation. An unintended experiment as Hua Cheng hears the result. More deliberate, quiet, intimate, his husband whispers. "Xie Lian."
He can feel the heat in his face. He wants to hold out, let Hua Cheng hear every thrumming beat of excitement in his veins. He doesn't last. Xie Lian's hand slips as he tries to speak, only, Hua Cheng's face fills with fresh awe.
Ah.
Xie Lian tries to take a fuller breath, tries not to laugh as Hua Cheng hears the very air in his lungs.
The stethoscope was a very good choice of a birthday present for Hua Cheng.