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Xie Lian returned from the heavens, only to find no Hua Cheng to greet him. That was weird…
Hua Cheng always came to see him the moment Xie Lian got back. That begged the question, where was his husband?
This was concerning. He thought. Hua Cheng had become extremely attached to him recently, with the pregnancy and all, and not seeing his omega right away made him upset.
He had to find Hua Cheng.
Xie Lian searched around Paradise Manor for a while, getting increasingly worried about his husband, until he heard faint whimpering behind a door he had almost just walked past.
The door was unassuming; he doubted he had ever opened it before. He put his ear against the door, but he only heard more whimpering.
The door was unlocked, and he pushed it open slowly and quietly so as not to disturb whoever might be inside.
The moment he cracked it open, he was hit with the smell of a distressed omega, his distressed omega.
Xie Lian decided he wasn’t going to be slow or quiet anymore.
Xie Lian opened the door all the way to find a storage room, but no Hua Cheng.
“San Lang?” He called out, trying to keep the worry for his husband out of his voice.
The whimpering stopped, and a second later, a head popped out from behind a pile of boxes. There he is. Xie Lian sighed in relief.
Xie Lian walked over to where Hua Cheng had been hiding and sat down in front of him. “Come here.” He said, patting his lap.
Hua Cheng climbed onto Xie Lian’s lap and hid his face in Xie Lian’s neck. Xie Lian rubbed circles into his back, scenting him.
“Honey, can you tell me what’s wrong?” Xie Lian asked.
Hua Cheng made a frustrated and confused noise. “Gege- I- I don-”
“Shh,” Xie Lian soothed. “It’s okay, slow down, take your time.”
Hua Cheng took a moment to breathe before whispering, “I… I don’t know.” He paused for a brief moment. “I… I don’t know what’s wrong- I don’t know what’s wrong with me-” Hua Cheng was speaking faster and faster by the second.
“San Lang, slow down-”
“-I don’t understand why I’m acting like this- I-” The ghost was talking so fast that he couldn’t catch the breath he didn’t need. “I don’t- I’m s- so s- stupid- I can’t-”
“Hua Cheng.”
Hua Cheng stopped speaking immediately. Xie Lian rarely used Hua Cheng’s actual name unless he was desperately trying to get his attention. This must have scared the omega, as when Hua Cheng looked up, his remaining eye was wet with unshed tears.
Xie Lian grabbed Hua Cheng’s face. “You’re not stupid. Your feelings aren’t stupid.” Xie Lian took a deep breath to calm down before he continued. “You know I don’t like it when you talk about yourself that way.”
Hua Cheng whined. “But-”
“You haven’t let me finish yet.” Xie Lian said with a slight growl. “It’s okay if you don’t know why, if you never know why. All that matters is that you end up feeling better again.”
Hua Cheng looked away. “Sorry, gege.” He whispered.
“I’m not the one you should say sorry to.”
“Do I have to?” Hua Cheng asked, looking back up at him.
“Yes.”
Hua Cheng mumbled something.
“Say it louder, I need to hear you say it.”
“Sorry.” Xie Lian stared at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. “… to San Lang.”
Xie Lian smiled. “Good boy.” He kissed Hua Cheng’s forehead, then cheeks, then nose, then his lips.
Hua Cheng whined, wiggling in Xie Lian’s grip.
“What is it?”
“Gege, I wanna go back to our nest.”
“Okay.” Xie Lian said, gathering Hua Cheng up.
—
On the way back to their bedroom, they passed by some of the manor’s gardens, which were currently layered in snow. Xie Lian noticed it was still lightly snowing, seeing small snowflakes falling from the night sky. He thought it was beautiful. He had always liked winter and its beauty, though during his banishment, it was lessened by being stuck out in the cold. His favorite season was spring, but he liked each of them for its own reasons.
Xie Lian was about to mention the pretty snow, but when he looked down at Hua Cheng, he saw the ghost glaring at the snow-covered garden. Why… “Is everything okay?” He asked.
“Fine.” Hua Cheng said, annoyed, before resting his head on Xie Lian’s chest.
“You don’t like the snow?” Xie Lian asked.
“No.”
“No? Why?” Xie Lian asked, confused.
“I don’t like winter.” Hua Cheng paused. “It’s not ever been fun for me. When I was little, I was stuck out in the cold for hours, even days at a time. I’m surprised I didn’t freeze to death.”
Oh. Xie Lian never thought about what it was like for his husband as a child. Reasonably, Hua Cheng didn’t like to bring it up, so they never really talked about it. This was just another reason for him to hate Hua Cheng’s terrible family. Xie Lian thought angrily.
“And after death, it was lonely without you here with me.”
“I’m here now, aren’t I?” Xie Lian said with a soft smile.
“Hmm, you are.” Hua Cheng acknowledged.
“So it doesn’t have to be lonely anymore.”
“No… I guess.”
“That’s right.” Xie Lian kissed the top of his head. “Now let’s get back to our bedroom, it’s cold out here.”
Hua Cheng nodded, and they continued on their way.
—
Now back in their room, Xie Lian set Hua Cheng down on the chair for the bedroom’s vanity.
Hua Cheng looked up at him. “Not going to our nest?” He asked, tilting his head.
“Not yet. We need to get dressed in something more comfortable.”
“Oh.”
Xie Lian walked over to their closet. It was huge, but he knew his way around. He headed straight to where their sleeping robes were. He picked out the most comfortable ones. Hua Cheng’s was his signature red with small silver butterflies embroidered across the edges of the fabric. For Xie Lian, it was similar, white fabric with gold flowers instead of silver butterflies. Simple, and he liked it that way. He walked back out of the closet (hehehe out of the closet) with the robes in hand, and back to Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng looked at him now with a smirk. Ah, now he’s back. “Is gege going to help his poor, helpless omega?”
Xie Lian shook his head, stifling a laugh. “You're not poor or helpless.” Hua Cheng pouted, and Xie Lian gave him a smirk of his own. “But I’m more than willing to help.”
Hua Cheng perked up. Xie Lian saw a slight blush on the ghost's face. Ghosts shouldn’t be able to blush; they have no blood after all, but for Hua Cheng and for most higher-level ghosts, they can fake it if they want to. Unlucky for the Ghost King, sometimes his body does it without his input, and Xie Lian gets to make fun of him for it. He smiled at that, knowing that he could make the all-powerful Ghost King flustered just with a few words.
“Will you stand up, or would you prefer to continue sitting while I undress you?” Xie Lian asked, his smirk growing wider as he saw the other man’s blush deepening.
Hua Cheng stood up, holding his arms out to his sides. Xie Lian became giddy. He loved doing this, he liked helping the husband he loved, and loved seeing that beautiful body of his. Xie Lian wanted to tease, wanting payback for everything Hua Cheng had done to him. He wanted to prolong this process, keep the other man in lovely torment, but he wouldn’t. He wanted to, oh so desperately wanted to, but his husband had been so upset earlier, and he was afraid that if he did indulge himself, his omega's distress would return, and it might become worse. So he just did what he said he would and helped the Ghost King change.
Hua Cheng must have only gotten half dressed that morning, as he had put on no jewelry and his robes were in disarray. Xie Lian got him out of them as soon as he could. He took a moment to take in his husband’s body. His eyes roamed all over it. And he might have focused on… umm… certain areas longer than he probably should have. Although he doubted Hua Cheng minded, from the look on his face. But it was not the time for any of that.
He helped Hua Cheng with putting on the robes with minimal protest from the omega; it was a fairly simple process, and they were done in mere minutes.
Hua Cheng had tried to convince Xie Lian that he could also help him undress, but he refused. Instead, he insisted that Hua Cheng could just sit and watch.
For Xie Lian, the process was much quicker. He found that it was slower when trying to help someone else get dressed. Plus, he had been wearing much less than the other man, which he preferred. He had, over the years, realized that extravagant clothing wasn’t for him.
Once finished, he looked to Hua Cheng, who had gained an even deeper blush that had spread to his ears and down his neck.
“Liked what you saw?” The answer was yes, and Xie Lian knew it. This was confirmed as Hua Cheng buried his face in his hands.
“Gege.” He whined. Hua Cheng looked through his fingers. “Can we go to our nest now?”
Xie Lian laughed. “Yes,” He smiled. “Of course.”
He was about to ask if Hua Cheng wanted to be carried there, but then Hua Cheng held out his arms, and Xie Lian sighed, a smile on his face. How cute.
He picked him up and walked over to their nest, plopping him inside. “Can this alpha come in?” He asked.
Hua Cheng nodded.
Xie Lian climbed in as Hua Cheng scooched over. Inside the nest, Xie Lian took Hua Cheng and lay him down, settling his omega on his chest, letting him lie there and hear his heart beat. Hua Cheng started to purr happily, making Xie Lian smile. His omega was here and happy in their nest, not sitting on the dusty floor of a storage room, whimpering. This is where he belonged, where they belonged.
“I love gege.” Hua Cheng mumbled in a now sleepy voice.
“And gege loves his omega so much. More than he’ll ever know.” He said, petting Hua Cheng’s head. “San Lang's sleepy.”
Hua Cheng hummed in agreement.
“It’s okay now, you can go to sleep. You're safe here with me.”
Hua Cheng’s purring slowed as he drifted off, and Xie Lian smiled again. He was so lucky. He thought as he too grew tired. His husband, his mate, his omega was so strong and resilient, living centuries all alone. Xie Lian’s smile faded a bit. He wished he could have been there for him. But no matter how much he wanted, he couldn’t change the past; he could only enjoy the present. And so he did. His smile came back as he soon followed his beloved into slumber.